Hire Ex-offenders

Incentives for employers to take a chance on hiring.   thestarpress.com MUNCIE -- The U.S. Department of Justice is sending two consultants to Muncie to help the community with its prisoner re-entry program. . . "The overall goal is trying to connect ex-offenders with employers," said Greg Maynard, coordinator of the city's Weed and Seed program. "There are advantages to hiring ex-offenders -- tax and legal advantages and incentives."   read the entire article here.

Coming Home?

"... During the prisoner's absence, roles have shifted, children have grown, and emotional and financial hardships have been endured. Even when daddy (or mommy) comes home, the prisoner and his family can never go back to the status quo that existed before prison, no matter how much they would like to. They must negotiate a new family dynamic that takes these changes into account..." read the entire article at http://www.prisonfellowship.org/inside-out/io-issue/november-2010/entry/20/15221

Mentors the Answer in Michigan

ludingtondailynews.com   "The MPRI helped [Paul] get documents, including his Social Security card, birth certificate and state identification card, and provided him with bus tokens, clothes and his first month's rent. But it was a group of local men who came alongside Paul who have really made the difference this time, he said."   read the entire article at Ludington Daily News

A Job is Job One!

Tulsa, Oklahoma   "Although they may be hard to find, job opportunities for felons do exist. Various nonprofits and faith-based groups offer job training and search tools for people coming out of prison. Goodwill Industries of Tulsa is a vendor of the Prisoner Reentry Initiative, a U.S. Department of Labor grant administered by the Community Service Council. The initiative is to cut down on people re-offending by helping them find and maintain jobs. It also provides incentives to employers who hire participants in the program. Goodwill Industries case manager Joshua Firor said the manufacturing and food service industries are most likely to give jobs to people with felony convictions. ... 'It's much harder to place someone with a record,' Firor said. 'I can have someone who is completely qualified for a job and can perform in that job at or better than another person, but they won't get it solely because of the felony.' "   Read more from this Tulsa World article at http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=11&articleid=20110306_11_A1_CUTLIN458327&rss_lnk=1

Read up!

Making Good: How Ex-Convicts Reform and Rebuild Their Lives by Shadd Maruna

There are two kinds of releasees, those that are going back, and those that are not. What makes the difference? Published by the American Psychological Association, this book is scholarly but readable, and offers some key insights, including a discussion of 'desistance' and why that is an important concept.


[Keep Out! is an Amazon.com Associate, just so you know.]


Re-entry Toolkit from Urban Institute

TJC Implementation Toolkit "The National Institute of Corrections and the Urban Institute announce the release of the Transition from Jail to Community (TJC) Implementation Toolkit. This web-based learning resource is designed to guide jurisdictions through implementation of the TJC model, in whole or in part. The Toolkit serves as a hands-on resource for users interested in jail reentry, whether in a criminal justice or community-based organization. Users can navigate the nine modules at their own pace. Toolkit modules incorporate examples from jurisdictions across the country, tools developed to facilitate implementation in the six current TJC learning sites, resource suggestions, and detailed content." The Toolkit can be accessed at www.jailtransition.com/Toolkit. More information at Urban Institute

Re-entry Workshop in Bronx

Features

I'm Home . . . What Next?

A Community Forum and Resource Fair

A

after incarceration.

FREE hands-on community forum for understanding what it takes to come home

Saturday, May 7, 2011

9:00 A.M. – 4:00 P.M.
full details at http://bronxboropres.nyc.gov/events/2011-05-07.pdf
[Not that anyone from California attended, but the "community forum and resource fair" sounded like a winner! JG]

The Bronx Reentry Working Group

If at first you don't succeed...

OK, time for a break from scholarly articles from really smart people.

 

When we first started our monthly PACT meeting to orient new parolees to community resources, we set up the room in lecture hall style, rows looking forward at the speaker looking back. The men sat with arms crossed waiting to be impressed and determined to be bored. It was an unreceptive and unproductive situation.

 

After a couple months of this, someone suggested a change to cafe style around tables. Someone else suggested we start with breakfast. These simple changes completely altered the atmosphere of the room.

 

Now the day opened with conversation among people with a common life experience. Now when speakers talked about their own time in the system, the men could see a look of recognition in the faces across the table. Now when speakers finished there was spontaneous applause from an appreciative crowd.

 

Did it make a difference in the recidivism rate? I don't know. But I know that for an hour or two on a Tuesday morning people were open to new ideas and making new choices. That is a toe hold in their vertical free climb out of the place they have been.

 

JG

Federal Grantees Gather to Promote Safe Communities and Successful Prisoner Reentry

"Nearly everyone in prison and jail will someday return to the community, and it is critical that we recognize and prepare for this reality," said BJA Acting Director James H. Burch, II. "The justice professionals invited to this conference are on the cutting edge of our justice system's most significant challenge—to increase public safety, strengthen communities, and reduce costs by ensuring that those released from secure confinement do not reoffend and have every opportunity to succeed in the community."

read the rest of the article here at www.nationalreentryresourcecenter.org