Apr 30 2026
Before construction began on a new jail in Allen County, conversations were already happening at Ambassador Enterprises (AE) about community patterns—recurring incarceration, mental health issues, and problems that had become cyclical.
As planning moved forward and construction drew closer, those conversations began to include informal discussions with leaders across the justice system. Around that same time, Ron Turpin, then at AE, was sworn in as County Commissioner, placing him in a formal public role. In one of those early conversations, he asked:
What would it look like if our courts and jail were so empty that the employees were bored because fewer people entered the criminal justice system?
From Conversation to Convening
Those conversations continued, and others joined. Within weeks, those conversations led to a broader convening. A small group of institutional leaders agreed to serve as a Strategic Advisory Group, helping define the scope of the effort and engage leaders across the system. In mid-2025, AE partnered with Gensyn Design to facilitate a five-month discovery process, Restore Allen.
The Discovery Process
Fifty-five participants from across the justice system and community organizations formed the Discovery Team, drawn from law enforcement, prosecution, public defense, courts, corrections, probation, behavioral health, housing, education, workforce development, and community-based nonprofits. Five working groups were organized around Employment, Housing and Homelessness, Mental Health, Substance Use and Addiction, and Youth and Juvenile Justice.
The group was asked to discover what was happening across the system and develop recommendations rooted in that discovery. Early sessions focused on establishing a common understanding among participants from across the system, then shifted to documenting how individuals actually moved through existing processes. Participants collected new information, reviewed existing research, and examined the constraints and supports that influenced how people moved through the system. They also identified where challenges compounded across institutions and where existing supports offered potential leverage.
Sessions alternated between focused discussions and broader conversations, revealing differences in authority and constraints across institutions. Participants traced how people moved through the system—following the person, not the agency. Differences in perspective emerged. Some questions stopped when it became clear they were outside the group’s authority. Participation required time beyond existing responsibilities, and the group narrowed over five months as professional demands limited continued involvement.
Recommendations and Next Steps
By the end of 2025, the Discovery Team had presented a report outlining seventeen recommendations across five focus areas for county leadership, participating institutions, and the community. County leadership assumed responsibility for the next phase and began planning next steps to address those challenges.
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