Agency History

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OOR's history "From Now Until Then"

Operation Outward Reach, Inc. is a private nonprofit providing community based vocational training for inmates of the state prison system since 1972.  The purpose of the programs are to provide our trainees with carpentry and masonry skills, work skills and life skills.

In 1972 at the State Regional Correctional Facility at Greensburg the Committee for Social Awareness led by Joseph Rollins, implemented a community project. "Repair On Wheels."  The purpose of this project was to teach skills in the building trades to state prison inmates in the community on actual job sites.

With successful completion of the pilot project, Operation Outward Reach was born.  The agency operated at a components of another agency until 1977 when it incorporated as a 501(C)(3) nonprofit.

 In 1977 the agency also expanded to the State Correctional Institution at Huntingdon followed by the prison at Mercer in 1988, at Cresson in 1993, Somerset in 1996. In addition, in the fall of 1996, the agency began a Juvenile Day Treatment in Westmoreland County. Cambridge Springs and Albion were added in 2001.