About the Center for Community Transitions

The Center for Community Transitions (CCT), formerly ECO, Inc. has been a part of the community solution to crime in our area for over 40 years. Everyday people receive reentry and family services from CCT to rebuild their lives and families while dealing with job and financial difficulties that result from incarceration.

Download our Annual Report FY23

Mission

The Center for Community Transitions is a non-profit organization with a mission to strengthen our community by helping people with criminal records and their families find a healthier and more productive way of living.

Our work provides employment and transition services; supports alternatives to incarceration; and restores and strengthens family bonds.

Goals

Return individuals to their family and our community as law-abiding citizens and reengage them as parents, employees and neighbors.
Break the cycle of recidivism and of intergenerational criminal justice involvement.
Advocate for social justice changes in the system that eliminates barriers and obstacles to full restoration of citizen rights.
Strengthen families affected by incarceration.

Who We Serve

CCT serves any person who has had an encounter with the criminal justice system, and families impacted by incarceration.

What We Do

CCT meets its mission through these programs and Initiatives:

LifeWorks! provides practical training, employment seeking assistance, help in defining personal values and assist with making thinking and behaviors better match those values. Please see the LifeWorks! page for more information.
Families Doing Time provides a continuum of services to families of incarcerated individuals through family events, support groups, information sharing and training for professionals. Please see the Families Doing Time page for more information.
The Center for Women is a 30-bed residential program for women who are still incarcerated and eligible to participate in a reentry program. The reentry program assist with transition planning and action plans including employment, family reunification, housing and other individual needs.

Affiliations & Community Partnerships

United Way of Central Carolinas
North Carolina Department of Public Safety
NC Center for Nonprofits
Reentry Partners of Mecklenburg
Mecklenburg County
Mecklenburg County Department of Social Services
Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools
American Correctional Association
Workforce Development Partners
Homeless Services Network
Second Harvest Food Bank
Goodwill of the Southern Piedmont
Changed Choices
Crisis Assistance Ministry
Loaves and Fishes

History

For more than four decades, we've assisted individuals and families throughout the Charlotte-Mecklenburg community who have been impacted by incarceration, while also serving as a thought leader on re-imagining justice.

In the early 1970s, a North Carolina Department of Correction intern presented a white paper on reducing recidivism by helping people find employment and housing when released from prison. Research at that time - and still today - cites employment as a way to reduce recidivism. From that document, NCDOC applied for an AmeriCorps VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) grant to help inmates transition from prison to the Charlotte community.

CCT has grown from serving 100 people annually to serving 1,500-plus while operating with 23 full-time employees and a $1.7 million annual budget. Learn more about our history.