18 Community Organizations Will Use Funds To Assist Adults and Juveniles Exiting from Correctional Facilities

Eighteen non-profit organizations will receive a total of $2 million to help juvenile and adult Delawareans successfully re-enter the community after completing prison sentences. The $2-million investment, using funds from settlements with national banks for misconduct on financial markets, is the largest state investment in community-based re-entry programs in at least a decade.

The program was designed by the Delaware Department of Justice and the Delaware Criminal Justice Council. The $2-million in funds are part of a $36-million settlement that the Department of Justice reached with national banks relating to bank misconduct in the financial markets. The funds were awarded to non-profit organizations by the Criminal Justice Council through a competitive grant process, and the CJC will monitor the eighteen organizations to ensure that the grant funds are spent appropriately.

“Currently, about two-thirds of our inmates who exit the adult correction system are back in again within three years,” said Attorney General Matt Denn. “The numbers are even worse for juveniles. We know, from experience around the country and right here in Delaware, that good re-entry programs can reduce those numbers, and improve public safety. But good programs cost money, and the state has never adequately invested in re-entry programs. This investment in community-based re-entry programs will allow these diverse programs to show what they can do, help many Delawareans avoid going back to prison, and give policymakers a basis for funding the programs over the long term.”

The grants are divided between larger grants of up to $150,000, targeted at more established non-profit organizations, and smaller grants targeted at new or small non-profits. Each of the grants contains performance measures by which the grant’s success can be objectively measured.

“The Criminal Justice Council is proud to partner with Attorney General Denn and the Department of Justice to implement this unprecedented investment in re-entry services in our state,” CJC Executive Director Chris Kervick said. “These funds, totaling almost $2 million dollars, represent the largest sub-grant awards in recent history and will go a long way to support programs that assist people as they come home to their communities.”

Some examples of successful grant recipients include:

• A grant to Brandywine Counseling and Community Services will allow the organization to provide services to fifty juveniles per year who are preparing for release from juvenile detention facilities, and are judged to be at high risk to re-offend. Under the program, a case worker from Brandywine Counseling will begin working with targeted juveniles thirty days before they are released from juvenile detention facilities, and continue working with the juveniles after release to ensure that they are re-enrolled in school, receive job training and opportunities, and appropriate health care. Brandywine Counseling’s grant of $150,000 will pay for the costs of the program for two years.

“BCCS is well-equipped to reshape how we prepare to assist adjudicated youth,” said Brandywine Counseling and Community Services’ (BCCS) CEO, Dr. Lynn Fahey. “This grant will allow us to implement best practices, but also develop a new approach to integrating juveniles back into society. Our goal is help these youth focus on personal responsibility and growth. Everyone at BCCS believes in second chances and this grant provides us with the opportunity to prove it.”

• In Her Shoes, Inc., a non-profit organization formed in 2010 by a former correctional system employee that has operated to date with no paid staff, provides a variety of re-entry services to adult women released from the Baylor Women’s Correctional Institution. A one-year grant of $25,000 to In Her Shoes will allow the organization to sustain and expand its services to women released from Baylor by hiring its first part-time staff person.

“I was thrilled to learn ‘In Her Shoes, Inc.’ was recognized by for its efforts to help female ex-offenders make a productive return to the community after incarceration,” said Founder and Executive Director Lenora Webb. “It’s an honor to know the Criminal Justice Council recognizes our work, and its generous award will allow us to continue our consistency in how we strive to overcome barriers to transition for these women.”

• A grant to Interfaith Community Housing of Delaware will allow it to implement its new Homeworks Construction and Education Program. Under this program, Interfaith Community Housing will collaborate with construction companies working on its Wilmington housing renovation projects to provide on-the-job, paid training to persons recently released from Delaware prisons. Interfaith Community Housing will collaborate with the Wilmington HOPE Commission’s Achievement Center and the United States Probation Office for the District of Delaware, providing workforce training to former inmates who are receiving other services from one of those two organizations. The grant of $100,000 received by Interfaith Community Housing will supplement a grant already received from the Delaware Department of Labor, and fund the program for its first two years.

“Interfaith Community Housing of Delaware couldn’t be more proud of providing this workforce development program for Wilmington’s most marginalized populations. We recognize that employment and training is critical for the long-term success of any truly transformative community revitalization efforts,” said Interfaith executive director Gary Pollio. “Working with our phenomenal partners – the Department of Labor, U.S. Probation, and the Achievement Center of Wilmington’s HOPE Commission – ensures Interfaith that our HomeWorks Construction and Employment and Training program will have significant impacts on the overall health, economic growth, and long-term stabilization of the communities served.”

Click here to see the full list of grant recipients and descriptions of their programs.

Print