Non-profit organizations invited to learn how to apply for $2 million in grant money.
Organizations interested in running offender re-entry programs are invited to two workshops next week on $2 million in grants soon to be made available through the Criminal Justice Council.
Attorney General Matt Denn announced last week that the $2 million will be made available to non-profit organizations committed to community-based efforts to reduce recidivism among adults and juveniles released from Delaware correctional facilities.
The workshops are scheduled for:
• Wednesday, August 3, 1 to 4 p.m., Dover Police Department, 400 S. Queen St., Dover
• Thursday, August 4, 1 to 4 p.m., Goodwill Center, 300 E. Lea Blvd., Wilmington.
Video of the workshops will also be posted on the websites of both the Delaware Department of Justice and the Delaware Criminal Justice Council for interested non-profit groups that cannot attend.
Grant decisions will be made by the Criminal Justice Council, and the council will also monitor recipients’ use of the grant funds. Grants will be available in amounts up to $150,000, and for periods of up to two years, and the grant guidelines employed by the Criminal Justice Council will be designed to ensure that funds are available both to larger organizations with a history of receiving and spending grant monies as well as to smaller qualified organizations that may not have an extensive history of receiving grants.
“Approximately two-thirds of adult inmates released from Delaware correctional facilities wind up back in prison within three years of release,” Attorney General Denn said. “This money, the largest new state investment in community-based re-entry programs in more than 10 years, will go a long way in reducing Delaware’s recidivism rate.”
The $2 million in grant funds were allocated to the state’s Criminal Justice Council by the Department of Justice, with the agreement of the General Assembly’s Joint Finance Committee, from settlements with national banks for alleged misconduct in national financial markets.