Background

The Restore, Reinvest, and Renew (R3) Program was created under Illinois’ Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act (CRTA), 410 ILCS 705, to reinvest cannabis tax revenue in communities disproportionately affected by disinvestment and over-incarceration. Administered by the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority (ICJIA), the program funds organizations in five domains: civil legal aid, economic development, reentry, violence prevention, and youth development.

This report presents findings from Phase Two of the R3 evaluation. Administrative data collected between February 2021 and June 2023 were used to examine the scale and reach of service delivery for Cohort One grantees. Phase Two builds on earlier work and sets the stage for Phase Three, which will combine community-level indicators with Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) methods to incorporate input from directly impacted communities into the evaluation process.

Key Findings

  • Scale of services: At least 137,881 people were served by organizations in the first cohort.
  • Capacity building: Programs created 369 new staff positions (221 of these staff positions were at grantee organizations, and 148 were at subawardee organizations).
  • Civil legal aid: Programs managed more than 2,400 cases, with 529 expungements/sealings and over $830,000 in monetary benefits reported for program participants.
  • Economic development: 788 program participants gained employment, 383 people received hourly wage increases that averaged nearly $8 per hour, and 36 individuals launched businesses employing 58 others.
  • Reentry: 1,030 program participants gained employment, 747 completed education or training, and over 2,000 people accessed health, mental health, or substance use services.
  • Violence prevention: 167 program participants gained employment, 267 completed education or training, 451 accessed mental health services, and 36 secured housing.
  • Youth development: Programs served 392 high school graduates and 111 college students. 506 program participants obtained internships and 278 obtained jobs.

Limitations

  • Results are based on 48 data submissions out of 58 data requests (82.8% response rate).
  • Reported totals are minimum counts and likely underestimate the full reach of R3 programs.
  • Programs offered varied and community-specific services, a strength of the R3 model but a challenge for standardized outcome measurement. Some services did not fit the common outcome categories used in this report, limiting comparability across programs.

Conclusion

These findings document the scale and reach of services delivered by R3-funded programs across Illinois. At least 137,881 people benefited from civil legal aid, economic development, reentry, violence prevention, and youth development services. Programs added hundreds of staff positions, reflecting substantial statewide capacity building across multiple service domains. Although these figures represent minimum estimates based on available data, they demonstrate the breadth of R3-funded service delivery and establish a strong foundation for continued evaluation and data refinement in Phase Three.

Next Steps

Looking ahead, Phase Three will expand the analysis by combining community-level indicators with CBPR methods to incorporate input from directly impacted communities into evaluation priorities and interpretation of results. Together, these evaluation phases will provide a rigorous and inclusive body of evidence to document reach and to examine longer-term trends related to equity, opportunity, and community well-being.