Joseph Mapp

Chicago, IL

Director, Chicago Mayor's Office of Reentry

Transforming the reentry process by establishing coordinated, gender-responsive public services that embed lived experience into governance and policy design to create pathways for dignity and opportunity.

Joseph Mapp is the director at the Chicago Mayor's Office of Reentry, where he leads the city's work to build a coordinated, whole-of-government approach to supporting returning residents. Rooted in restorative justice and lived experience, his approach centers justice-impacted people in shaping the systems intended to serve them. His leadership and advocacy extend across statewide and community platforms, including the Illinois Reentry Council, the Returning Residents Working Group, and the Illinois Coalition for Higher Education in Prison. Under his leadership, Chicago launched a city-funded, women-focused Community Reentry Support Center, a first-of-its-kind model providing gender-responsive and trauma-informed services designed for women returning from incarceration. Separately, Joseph is advancing an intergovernmental continuum-of-care approach connecting city, county, state, and community partners to strengthen support before and after release. Through the Scholars program Joseph plans to refine this approach into a replicable national framework grounded in dignity, demonstrating what thoughtful city-level reform can achieve, helping to reshape reentry nationally.