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Prevent and End Homelessness . . . Brought to you by the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness WITH THIS ISSUE, the e-news continues its 20 in 20 Month of Innovation with 20 Special Issues, one per day, every day for the rest of May, each focusing on a single innovation achieving results in preventing or ending homelessness. Innovation Number 8 Project Re-Connect:
Achieving Successful Reentry
for Ex-Prisoners through
St. Louis' 10 Year Plan - In St. Louis, MO a special initiative rooted in the 10 Year Plan focuses on engaging and supporting re-entering prisoners - those who have served maximum sentences and are returning to the community with no requirement for further supervision - to achieve successful reentry.
- Project Re-Connect is a city-initiated, state- funded partnership of community and faith based agencies with a network of volunteer mentors supporting a high risk population as they re-enter the community.
Read on to learn more . . . | WHAT IS THE INNOVATION AND HOW DOES IT WORK? |  |
Pre-release engagement and post-release services, mentoring, and supports achieve successful reentry in St. Louis Through the cooperation of the Superintendents of Missouri's 23 state prisons, St. Louis' Project Re- Connect receives a list each month of the target population of prisoners who have served maximum sentences and are scheduled to be released to St. Louis over the coming three months. Since state law does not require prisons to create a discharge plan for prisoners who have served their maximum sentences, Project Re-Connect began with an educational campaign for the Superintendents that included making a formal presentation at the monthly meeting of Superintendents convened by the Missouri Department of Corrections. Each prisoner on the target list is sent a letter describing the reentry opportunity offered by Project Re-Connect to assist them with finding a place to live, a job, and connection to mental health and substance abuse services if needed. Case managers are assigned to prisoners who express interest and work with them by phone and letters prior to release to develop an Individual Support Plan that considers health needs, where they would like to live, any existing family supports, work interests, and other matters. Each individual is asked to recognize that "reentry is not just about individuals coming home; it is also about the homes and communities to which they return." Returning prisoners are expected to commit to making responsible choices, making positive changes in their lives, and pursuing Project Re-Connect goals that they set for themselves. A partnership of community and faith based organizations including Center for Women in Transition (CWIT), the Criminal Justice Ministries of St. Vincent de Paul, Provident Counseling, Employment Connections and the Peace and Justice Institute then provide support, access to resources, and mentoring to the released individual. Project Re-Connect launched in March 2007 with a budget of $3000 per client that is used to meet a variety of needs including rent, transportation, food, and clothing during the 6-month post release program. Most clients live in transitional housing in the community for the first month or so while they are being assisted to find employment. After that time, they are able to locate and obtain more permanent housing with the assistance of Project Re-Connect. Clients receiving outpatient treatment for substance abuse remain longer in the transitional housing. Mentoring relationships continue beyond the 6 months. | WHO BENEFITS FROM THE INNOVATION? | |
The reentry population experiences support in coming back into the community and is able to achieve greater self sufficiency more quickly with better access to key resources of housing, treatment, and services, lowering recidivism rates. Citizens of the City of St. Louis benefit from improved public safety and thus a better quality of life as fewer new crimes are committed. St. Louis and Missouri benefit from lower judicial and incarceration costs associated with recidivism, law enforcement, and courts. St. Louis also benefits from achieving progress in a 10 Year Plan goal to prevent and end chronic homelessness. | WHAT RESULTS ARE BEING ACHIEVED AND REPORTED FROM THE INNOVATION? | |
275 men and women being released from state prison to St. Louis having served their maximum sentences have participated in the program since Project Re-Connect launched in March 2007; this number includes 54 who are still in the pre-release phase. Only 2.7% of participants have re-offended compared to 23.8 % of those meeting the same target population definition released between January 1, 2006 - March 31, 2008 who did not have the opportunity or chose not to participate in Project Re-Connect. Less than 1% of participants have dropped out of the program. | WHO IS THE INNOVATOR? | |
St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay partnered with St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley in developing a 10 Year Plan to End Chronic Homelessness in 2005; the plan identified prisoner re-entry as an "area of emphasis" for housing and services delivery. While many 10 Year Plans have identified the reentry population for prevention resources, Mayor Slay took the lead to develop a city strategy in partnership with the state prison system. The city and county combined their focus with the work of the state Department of Corrections in response to Governor Matt Blunt's 2005 Executive Order creating the Missouri Re-Entry Process Steering Team. Working with the state legislature, Mayor Slay secured a $1 million appropriation in 2006 to focus on prisoners who were returning to the city after serving out their maximum sentences, "possessed few resources to support themselves," and historically used the city's emergency shelters. According to William Siedhoff, Director of the St. Louis Department of Human Services, Mayor Slay's initiative focuses on a population of returning ex-offenders with high rates of dual diagnosis who make up a disproportionate number of persons using the city's emergency shelter system. A high percentage of ex- offenders were identified among the homeless population on the streets of the city and in homeless shelters. This was particularly true for those released from state correctional facilities on "Director's Release" who had served out their entire sentences with no time off for good behavior. Since 2006, a total of 809 people maxed out their sentences and found their way to St. Louis, according to city data. The St. Louis-based Center for Women in Transition (CWIT) was awarded the contract for Project Re- Connect which is a partnership of community and faith based organizations including CWIT, the Criminal Justice Ministries of St. Vincent de Paul, Provident Counseling, Employment Connections, and the Peace and Justice Institute. Each of these agencies brought to the table a history of working with special populations and a "rolodex" of relationships that had been cultivated over the years with landlords, employers, and mental health and substance abuse service providers that allows them to offer immediate post release services to the target population. CWIT Associate Director Georgia Walker, who manages Project Re-Connect, says that "mentoring combined with this network of wraparound services" are the heart of the Project Re-Connect effort : "Mentoring is indispensable, to have someone from the community willing to welcome you back, to say let me help you focus on your goals . . let me be the one to walk with you." CWIT has a network of mentor volunteers who are working with women ex-prisoners; the men's mentoring program is provided through the Peace and Justice Institute. | WHERE CAN I LEARN MORE ABOUT THE INNOVATION? | |
| KEEP READING . . . THERE'S MORE . . . | |
| A SNEAK PREVIEW OF TOMORROW'S INNOVATION . . . | |
20 in 20, A Month of Innovations, continues tomorrow with a Special Issue focused on: Ohio's Special Courts: Judicial leaders as partners in preventing and ending chronic homelessness | 20 EPISODES IN ENDING HOMELESSNESS . . . | |
Don't miss a single episode during this 20 in 20 Month of Innovations . . . but, if you do, you can always access the Council's "on demand" service and catch up. Just visit our web site at www.usich.gov/innovations And, yes, we'd be happy to consider your innovation for an upcoming episode of 20 in 20. Just email us the details of the innovation and the innovator, the benefits, the results, and contact information to:
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