Free and Forward for organizations

FREE FOR EVERY PERSON, ON DAY ONE

Four tools they get the moment they download it

No cost to them and no cost to you. Nothing to procure, no contract to sign, no account for your office to manage and no data flowing back to us. They download the app and these four are already there, in English and Español.

Free

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

Free

Goals & Progress

• Ten starter goals, plus their own

• A bar that shows how far they have come

• Free permanently, no card required

• Motivation you cannot mandate

Free

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

Free

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

• Free on every tier

For your clients

Full access for the people you serve, one code each

The free tier stays free for everyone, 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 and cover letter builder, the second-chance job board, the application tracker, data export, and AI resume writing and job matching with 45 AI credits on each account.

For new organizations

We will gladly give you 10 test codes

Ten Premium codes, free, to try with your clients. No card, no contract, and no conversation about money until you have seen whether it helps. The ten people who use them keep full access for good, whatever you decide.

Ask for your 10 test codes

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 a free 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 gratis 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 a free 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 and you never pass on anyone's details.

You see counts, never names

Ask us any time how many codes are used and how many are left. We never say who used them, to you or to anyone else.

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

The question we get asked most

People ask us whether it gets shared. It does not.

It is one of the first things people ask us, so we would rather answer it here than leave anyone wondering. Nothing in the app reports back to an organization. We cannot tell you who opened it, what anyone checked off or what dates they put in. Document photos are encrypted on the phone before they are uploaded, and we store only the encrypted file.

We say it plainly because being comfortable with it is the whole thing. Someone who is not sure who might be reading will not put a real court date in, and an app nobody opens is no use to them, or to you. So there is no dashboard on your side — here is what you can see instead.

Your own account

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

What those ten people 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, you keep it, and none of it comes to us. 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.

After the ten

If it helps, cover more of the people you serve

And if it does not, you have lost nothing and neither have they. No card was taken, nothing was installed, and those ten keep full access regardless.

If it does, tell us how many more seats you need and which plan, and we will send a quote. Every seat works the same way as your ten test codes, and none of them ever 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)

The same numbers, at a glance

40%

Prison admissions from supervision violations

Two in five people entering state prison are returning on a probation or parole violation.

Supervision violations

All other admissions

CSG Justice Center (2023 data)

Figures are national. Individual states vary widely.

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.

How a jurisdiction offers it

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

Just tell people about it

Free. We give you printable cards and a QR code for release packets, probation offices and reentry centers. Nothing to procure, nothing to sign, no data flows to us.

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.

On surveillance

This is a tool for the person, not a monitoring product

There is no location tracking, no check-in verification and no silent reporting to an agency. If we build anything an officer can see, the person will be told exactly what that is before it is turned on. That is also what makes people actually use it — and a tool nobody opens does not help you either.

See it for yourself

A demo login — not access to anyone's account

You do not need access to the people you supervise, and we would not give it to you. What we can give you is 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 full checklist and calendar, the document vault, the resume and cover letter builder, the second-chance job board 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

Paying for it

Most jurisdictions 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.

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.

Why Free and Forward works for organizations.

Four tools they get the moment they download it

Full access for the people you serve, one code each

We will gladly give you 10 test codes

Four steps, on any phone or computer

Tell us how many, and which plan

We send the codes

You decide who gets one

You see counts, never names

People ask us whether it gets shared. It does not.

Your own account

What those ten people tell you

If it helps, cover more of the people you serve

What supervision violations actually cost

The same numbers, at a glance

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

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

Just tell people about it

Sponsor your county's data

This is a tool for the person, not a monitoring product

A demo login — not access to anyone's account

Most jurisdictions fund this from money they already have

Second Chance Act

Byrne JAG

DOL Reentry Employment Opportunities

WIOA

Medicaid 1115 reentry waivers

State reentry appropriations

Tell us your jurisdiction and what you are trying to fix