In my career, I’ve been fortunate to work with marginalised and disadvantaged communities in a range of roles: as a lawyer helping refugees in the Philippines, as a humanitarian aid worker supporting communities in the Horn of Africa and as the manager of a human rights policy, research and education centre. While at the Castan Centre for Human Rights Law, I helped found the Indigenous Group of Learning with three incredible people – Laura Wilson, Emily Munro-Harrison and Justin Trounson. The Group brought together Indigenous people incarcerated at Port Phillip Prison and students in a weekly pro-social gathering that had positive benefits for both the incarcerated participants and the volunteers. That experience led me to my current role with Vacro, where we support people in the criminal justice system to create new beginnings for themselves and their families. Our governments have frequently failed to support our most vulnerable people, and we at Vacro know that many of those people have ended up in prison because of that failure. Our prisons contain thousands of people suffering from serious mental health conditions, people with disability, those who have experienced homelessness and addiction and, most shamefully, First Nations people. What inspires me about Vacro’s work is that we support these people to envision a brighter future for themselves and then we help build their capacity, and connect them to the opportunities they need to make that brighter future a reality. I work in a supportive, collaborative and non-judgmental environment where we are constantly evaluating our work, building community connections and responding to emerging challenges. We also believe that we have a responsibility – as Victoria’s only specialist reintegration organisation – to bring our expertise to public debates on how to create stronger communities where people can pursue lives of meaning free from the criminal justice system. If you would like more information about Vacro, please contact me at msmith@vacro.org.au