Changing Perceptions
Monte Pollard, Executive Director
Unlocked Futures
Changing Perceptions rebuilds reentry infrastructure in the Washington metropolitan area, pairing comprehensive case management, peer mentorship, workforce training, and stabilization funding with systems-level work that expands fair-chance pathways for people returning home from incarceration.
Year Founded: 2015
Their mission is to ensure the smooth reintegration and success of returning citizens in the Washington metropolitan area through hands-on and authentic mentoring, guidance, training, networking, and other support and referrals to needed services.
Changing Perceptions rebuilds the reentry infrastructure that public systems have long underfunded. In a city where federal incarceration policy has sent many residents far from home and weakened coordinated return planning, the organization serves as trusted, community-based infrastructure between incarceration and long-term stability. Its work begins with intensive assessment and individualized planning, then combines case management, licensed social work, peer mentorship, workforce readiness, financial capability training, and targeted stabilization funding for urgent needs.
Beyond the individual level, Changing Perceptions coordinates with public defenders, law firms, employers, and community institutions to strengthen release planning and expand fair-chance pathways—helping rebuild the community-rooted systems, opportunities, and relationships that make successful reentry possible.
Founded, led, and largely operated by individuals who have walked the same path, Changing Perceptions is committed to being the place where returning citizens find connection, structure, and real opportunity. What began as a grassroots effort is now a recognized, award-winning nonprofit serving hundreds every year—changing not just perceptions, but lives.
Monte Pollard
Executive Director
