Free and Forward for organizations

READY FOR EVERY PERSON, ON DAY ONE

Tools they get the moment they download it

No cost to them and no cost to you. Nothing to procure, no contract to sign and no account for your office to manage. They download the app and the tools marked Included are already there, in English and Español.

Included

Job Board

• Nearly 3,000 second-chance jobs, in all 50 states and DC

• Their own city and state come first — browse and save, included on every tier

• Filter by state and by trade — construction, food service, retail and more

• Tap Listen to hear any job read out loud

Plus

Interview Practice

• 8 common interview questions, including the one about their record

• A tip with every question

• Tap Listen to hear each question read out loud

• AI feedback and scores come with Plus

Included

Free and Forward app showing the 27-step reentry checklist grouped by ID, housing and healthcare, with a due date on each step

27-Step Checklist

• Every step in the order it actually happens

• A due date and a reminder on each one

• ID, housing, healthcare, legal and work

• Fewer calls asking what comes next

Included

Free and Forward app goal tracker showing four of ten goals complete and a progress bar at 40 percent

Goals & Progress

• Ten starter goals, plus their own

• A bar that shows how far they have come

• Included permanently, no card required

• Motivation you cannot mandate

Included

Calendar

• Check-ins, court dates and deadlines in one view

• Reminders land before the date, not on it

• Tied to the checklist, so nothing splits in two

• Every date from the court and the officer in one place

Included

Free and Forward app Essentials screen listing verified help: 211 for local food, housing and health services, Legal Services Corporation for free civil legal aid, and U.S. Courts probation and pretrial information

Resources

• Verified links for housing, benefits, health coverage and legal aid

• 211 for local services, and plain answers on supervision conditions

• ID, driver's license, child support, school and job licensing

• Partners for building credit, car insurance and starting a business

• Included on every tier

For your clients

Full access for the people you serve, one code each

The starter tier comes at no cost to anyone, always, so there is nothing to buy for that. For full access, an organization buys seats. You choose how many, and which plan: Basic, Plus or Premium. Each seat is a single-use code, and whoever types it in gets that plan on their own account, for good, at no cost to them.

Premium is the whole app: email and deadline reminders, the encrypted document vault, photo to PDF, the resume builder, the AI interview coach, the application tracker, data export, AI resume and cover letter writing, the letter writer, AI job matching and typed appointments, with 45 AI credits on each account. The second-chance job board is included for everyone.

See it before you buy anything

Contact us for a demo. Tell us about your organization and we will set you up with a demo account so you can see exactly what the people you serve will see. No card, no contract.

Advanced features

Purchase seats within your budget

Buy as many seats as your budget allows, at Basic, Plus or Premium, and the people you serve get the advanced features at no cost to them. Contact us for pricing and we will send a per-seat quote. Once it is paid, each seat comes to you as its own code, on a card like the one below.

Example

Free and ForwardProgram access

Premium plan

Provided at no cost by Your organization

Your code

K7QMP-3XRTA

How to use it

1On any phone or computer, go to app.freeandforward.com/redeem

2Create an account, or sign in.

3Type the code above. Your Premium plan turns on right away.

Using the app? Sign in with the same email. Your plan will already be there.

Cómo usarlo

1En cualquier teléfono o computadora, entra a app.freeandforward.com/redeem

2Crea una cuenta o inicia sesión.

3Escribe el código. Tu plan Premium se activa de inmediato.

¿Usas la app? Inicia sesión con el mismo correo. Tu plan ya estará ahí.

One use only. Keep this card private.contact@freeandforward.com

Each person gets a card like this with their own code. Cards come four to a letter page, in English and Spanish, with a list of the codes you can email. The code on this example does not work.

How the person turns it on

Four steps, on any phone or computer

Go to app.freeandforward.com/redeem.
Create an account, or sign in. A new account confirms its email with a 6-digit code we send.
Type the code from the card. The plan turns on right away.
On their phone, open the Free and Forward app and sign in with the same email. The plan is already there.

Each code works once. If a card goes missing, tell us and we cancel that code and send a new one.

Tell us how many, and which plan

Any number of seats, at Basic, Plus or Premium. We quote per seat and send one invoice. No contract to sign and nothing to install.

We send the codes

As soon as the invoice is paid: printable cards, four to a letter page in English and Spanish, and a list you can email. One code per seat, and each one works once.

You decide who gets one

Hand a card to each person. They turn it on themselves, so the account is theirs from the start.

Check how many are left

Ask us any time how many codes are used and how many are left.

Seats never expire and nothing renews. A Premium seat includes the same 45 AI credits as any Premium account; more credits are the person's own purchase. Someone on a Basic or Plus seat can move up later by paying only the difference.

Paying by purchase order or with grant funds? Here is what your purchasing office will need.

Free and Forward LLCUEI M9MJAMQGXND5CAGE 250J0Active SAM.gov registrationW-9 on request: contact@freeandforward.com

If it helps, cover the people you serve

Start with the demo. If it is not a fit, you have lost nothing: no card, no contract, nothing installed.

If it is, tell us how many seats you need and which plan, and we will send a quote. Seats never expire.

Ask about seats →

The same form as the rest of this page. No sales call, and we will tell you honestly if we do not think we can help. If you would rather see it than read it, ask for the 15-minute walkthrough.

The problem, in your own numbers

What supervision violations actually cost

Every figure below is from the Bureau of Justice Statistics or the Council of State Governments Justice Center. Full citations are at the bottom of this page.

40%

of state prison admissions result from probation or parole violations

CSG Justice Center (2023 data)

110,000+

admissions in 2023 came from technical violations alone — not new offenses

CSG Justice Center (2023 data)

What the evidence actually supports

We built this around the one thing with real trial evidence behind it

Helping people show up. Here is what the research found, including where it stops.

Randomized controlled trial

Court-date reminders reduce failure to appear

In New York City, 23,243 people randomized: text reminders cut failure to appear by 8 percentage points from a 37.9% base — a 21% relative reduction. Messages combining consequence information with plan-making performed best, at 9.9 points.

Fishbane, Ouss & Shah, Science, 2020

Randomized controlled trial

And they reduce warrants and custody

In Santa Clara County, California, 5,709 people randomized: reminders cut bench warrants by 20.4% and incarceration from missed court dates by 21.4% — at roughly 60 cents per defendant per case.

Science Advances, 2025

Randomized controlled trial

It works for supervision appointments too

Across all 54 Arkansas Community Corrections offices — 3,470 clients, 14,135 appointments — a single text one day before produced 29% fewer no-shows and 21% fewer cancellations.

Hastings et al., 2021

Meta-analysis

The finding replicates

A meta-analysis of court-date reminder studies found reminders significantly reduce the odds of failure to appear, improving appearance in 11 of 12 studies reviewed. The authors caution that reminders are not a panacea.

Zottola et al., Criminology & Public Policy, 2023

Stated plainly

What we will not claim

You will hear a lot of overstatement in this category, so here is ours.

We do not claim this app reduces recidivism.

No reentry app has published randomized evidence that it does. The one trial that directly tested whether reminders reduce probation violations found no significant effect.

Studies of reminders measured attendance, not reoffending.

Those are different measures and we will not conflate them.

We will not present our own usage numbers as research.

Everything on this page is peer-reviewed or from a federal statistical agency.

If your evaluation office wants to test whether this works

We will support a real study and publish the result either way.

Seeing whether it works

How you can tell whether it helps

The app only helps if people open it and put their real dates in. Here is how you can judge whether it is working.

Your own account

Walk the job board, interview practice, the checklist, the calendar and the vault yourself on the demo login, and decide whether it is something you would hand to someone on their first day home.

What the people using it tell you

Ask them how they got on. One thing we would ask in return: make it easy to wave off, and let them know that saying they did not use it, or did not like it, changes nothing — not with you, and not their access, which is theirs to keep either way.

If you want something written down, ask us for the one-page question sheet. You administer it and you keep it. And if your evaluation office wants something more rigorous than that, our standing offer holds: we will support a real study and publish the result either way.

How a jurisdiction offers it

Two ways in, depending on how involved you want to be

Just tell people about it

Included. We give you printable cards and a QR code for release packets, probation offices and reentry centers. Nothing to procure and nothing to sign.

Sponsor your county's data

We build and maintain the county layer for your jurisdiction — your probation office, your courts, your general assistance office, your transit program — so the steps and the resources people see are the real ones for where they live, not a generic list.

Paying for it

Many jurisdictions can fund this from money they already have

Second Chance Act

$111 million in the most recent cycle. Award ceiling $900,000. Reentry technology and case coordination are eligible uses.

Byrne JAG

Formula funding to state administering agencies plus direct local awards. Commonly used for supervision technology and reentry services.

DOL Reentry Employment Opportunities

$110 million for program year 2026, with up to $30 million to national and regional intermediaries.

WIOA

Justice-involved individuals are a priority population for local workforce development boards.

Medicaid 1115 reentry waivers

Eighteen states approved as of September 2026 and more pending. Pre-release case management and care coordination are covered services.

State reentry appropriations

Many states carry a dedicated line. We will help your grants office write the technology component.

Apply for the $1,000 reentry partner grant →

Who it is for

Built for the person coming home

It is built around what the person has to get done: keep appointments, keep documents in one place and take each next step on time. That is what makes people actually use it — and a tool nobody opens does not help you either.

See it for yourself

A demo login you can walk through yourself

We can give you a demo account loaded with sample data, so you can walk through exactly what someone in your jurisdiction sees before you decide anything. The demo includes the second-chance job board, interview practice, the full checklist and calendar, the document vault, the resume and cover letter builder and the application tracker — populated with realistic sample data, not a real person's information.

Tell us your organization and we will send login details the same day. No sales call required, and nothing is installed on your systems. Request credentials from contact@freeandforward.com

Talk to us

Tell us your jurisdiction and what you are trying to fix

Roughly how many people you supervise or release a year, and what the problem is. We will tell you honestly whether we can help.

Thank you! Your submission has been received!

Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.

Sources: Council of State Governments Justice Center, Supervision Violations and Their Impact on Incarceration, 2025 report (2023 data) · Fishbane, Ouss & Shah, “Behavioral nudges reduce failure to appear for court,” Science, 2020 · Chohlas-Wood et al., Science Advances, Santa Clara County court reminder trial, 2025 · Hastings et al., Arkansas Community Corrections appointment reminder trial, 2021 · Zottola et al., Criminology & Public Policy, 2023 · Medicaid.gov, Reentry Section 1115 Demonstrations (September 2026).

Step 2 — iPhone or iPad (Safari)

Step 2 — Android (Chrome)

Many people go back for avoidable reasons — a missed appointment, a missed deadline, paperwork that never got done.

Tools they get the moment they download it

Full access for the people you serve, one code each

See it before you buy anything

Purchase seats within your budget

Four steps, on any phone or computer

Tell us how many, and which plan

We send the codes

You decide who gets one

Check how many are left

If it helps, cover the people you serve

What supervision violations actually cost

We built this around the one thing with real trial evidence behind it

Court-date reminders reduce failure to appear

And they reduce warrants and custody

It works for supervision appointments too

The finding replicates

What we will not claim

We do not claim this app reduces recidivism.

Studies of reminders measured attendance, not reoffending.

We will not present our own usage numbers as research.

If your evaluation office wants to test whether this works

How you can tell whether it helps

Your own account

What the people using it tell you

Two ways in, depending on how involved you want to be

Just tell people about it

Sponsor your county's data

Many jurisdictions can fund this from money they already have

Second Chance Act

Byrne JAG

DOL Reentry Employment Opportunities

WIOA

Medicaid 1115 reentry waivers

State reentry appropriations

Built for the person coming home

A demo login you can walk through yourself

Tell us your jurisdiction and what you are trying to fix

Step 2 — iPhone or iPad (Safari)

Step 2 — Android (Chrome)

Help someone coming home get started

Many people go back for avoidable reasons — a missed appointment, a missed deadline, paperwork that never got done.

Tools they get the moment they download it

Full access for the people you serve, one code each

See it before you buy anything

Purchase seats within your budget

Four steps, on any phone or computer

Tell us how many, and which plan

We send the codes

You decide who gets one

Check how many are left

If it helps, cover the people you serve

What supervision violations actually cost

We built this around the one thing with real trial evidence behind it

Court-date reminders reduce failure to appear

And they reduce warrants and custody

It works for supervision appointments too

The finding replicates

What we will not claim

We do not claim this app reduces recidivism.

Studies of reminders measured attendance, not reoffending.

We will not present our own usage numbers as research.

If your evaluation office wants to test whether this works

How you can tell whether it helps

Your own account

What the people using it tell you

Two ways in, depending on how involved you want to be

Just tell people about it

Sponsor your county's data

Many jurisdictions can fund this from money they already have

Second Chance Act

Byrne JAG

DOL Reentry Employment Opportunities

WIOA

Medicaid 1115 reentry waivers

State reentry appropriations

Built for the person coming home

A demo login you can walk through yourself

Tell us your jurisdiction and what you are trying to fix