Community Navigator

The Community Navigator will guide and support RISE program graduates returning to the community from prison. Reporting to the Director of Reentry the Community Navigator will work with individuals both pre-and post-release to remove reentry barriers and help them navigate community resources and services.

The Community Navigator will administer needs assessments, review reentry and personal action plans, help individuals set short- and long-term goals, provide employment and housing search assistance, make community referrals to wrap-around services, conduct wellness check-ins, facilitate classes, conducting employment verifications, and managing other case management needs. The Community Navigator will work closely with the entire RISE Team to encourage and empower program participants to become successful members of their families and communities.

Please note that this position requires (reimbursable) travel.

RISE is the largest nonprofit organization in Nebraska focused solely on habilitative programming in prisons and reentry support. At RISE, transformation starts pre-release and continues post-release. Our inside/out model bridges incarceration to the community and considers all the critical steps in that journey. We prepare and train people for each phase through intensive character development, employment readiness, job creation through entrepreneurship, family programming, and case management.

We transform people in the community by building awareness and empathy that leads to support and opportunity. These connections heal families, create employment pathways, and lower recidivism. The mission of RISE is to break generational cycles of incarceration.

RISE has received a “Best Places to Work in Omaha” award from Baird Holm and the Greater Omaha Chamber. RISE is a recipient of the Non-Profit Association of the Midlands Catalyst Award, honoring non-profits that inspire action, advance excellence and innovation, and drive transformation while making a meaningful impact. In 2025, RISE received the Roger Baldwin Civil Libertarian of the Year Award from the ACLU of Nebraska.

• Utilize both peer support and case management skills to support RISE program graduates in their transition from prison to the community
• Build and nurture supportive relationships with people on their caseload.
• Maintain and build healthy relationships with Prison Program staff members, working closely with the program staff at the facility the Community Navigator is serving.
• If someone on the Community Navigator’s caseload is still incarcerated, make regular contact with them through in-prison tabling sessions and/or letter writing.
• Administer post-release needs assessments to determine services and programmatic needs of reentering individuals. Identify and refer participants to community resources including housing, wrap-around services for mental health and substance use treatment, public benefits, healthcare, etc.
• Review reentry plans to develop realistic goals and personal action plans to ensure successful reintegration and address the five keys to reentry well-being: healthy thinking patterns, meaningful work trajectories, effective coping strategies, positive social engagement, and positive relationships.
• Assist individuals with obtaining and completing forms and documents necessary for transition (i.e. transcripts, birth certificate, state identification, social security cards) and navigate challenges that having a criminal background will present (i.e. employment, housing, transportation).
• Serve as a liaison between individuals, community organizations (e.g., transitional living facilities, parole officer), and family to ensure networks of support. Coordination will provide the best…