Welcome to the Texas Offenders Reentry Initiative also known as TORI. TORI is a faith-based program affiliated with the Potter’s House of Dallas, Inc. The Potter’s House was founded by Bishop T. D. Jakes in 1996.

Because of the vision of Bishop Jakes and his overwhelming passion to minister to the needs of hurting people, Bishop Jakes established a prison ministry in 1997 to serve incarcerated individuals and their families. Through that program, known as the New Creation Prison and Jail Ministry, Bishop Jakes reached behind prison walls delivering messages of inspiration and hope to numerous inmates across the world through his books, media ministry and conference satellite uplinks.

In 2004, Bishop Jakes and former COO of The Potter’s House, Roland Hairston, felt a heavy call to expand the services of the prison ministry by offering assistance to inmates who were returning home to their communities.

In Texas alone, more than 70,000 prisoners are released each year, with most of them returning to communities in Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth, Austin and San Antonio. Due to the high volume of former inmates reentering these communities, The Potter’s House responded to this concern through the formation of TORI, a five-city partnership working together to reduce recidivism in the most problematic reentry cities in the state of Texas. With the support of the Metroplex Economic Development Corporation (MEDC), a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization founded by Bishop Jakes to bridge economic voids existing in urban America, TORI opened its doors in January 2005. Since the inception of the program, TORI has served over 5,000 formerly incarcerated individuals across the state of Texas.

TORI is an intensive 12-month case management program that offers six core comprehensive services that the majority of formerly incarcerated clients need upon release.Those services include: employment, housing, education, family reunification, health care and spiritual guidance. By addressing and providing resources in these six key areas, TORI hopes to aid and empower those formerly incarcerated to achieve successful reentry and a new lifestyle free of crime.

Although the demand is high, TORI passionately feels that providing solutions to the many barriers our clients face, we can reduce the rate of recidivism and slowly but surely build back the integrity of our families in Texas and provide a safe and healthier place for our future generations to live.