Keeping Families Together, Supportive Housing Webinar

The Impact of Supportive Housing on Chronically Homeless, Child Welfare Involved Families Webinar February 2, 2011 2:00pm ET  We invite you to participate in an exclusive 60-minute webinar co-hosted by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Corporation for Supportive Housing to share evaluative data from the cutting-edge Keeping Families Together pilot program. The evaluation demonstrates the impact of supportive housing on families who are chronically homeless and child welfare involved. The Keeping Families Together pilot program was designed to answer the question: “With the right combination of affordable housing and supportive services, can highly vulnerable families provide a stable, healthy environment for their children, thus preventing child welfare involvement?” Between October 2007 and July 2009, 29 New York City families participated in the program.  These families all had significant, sometimes intergenerational, histories of chronic homelessness, child welfare involvement, substance abuse or mental illness, interpersonal violence and trauma. Evaluation results show that the Keeping Families Together pilot program holds real promise through a holistic  approach to affordable housing and services that preserves families experiencing serious challenges. The pilot shows  that we can bring families back from the brink of major crisis and reduce the cycle of homelessness and involvement with child welfare and other agencies. Scheduled for Wednesday, February 2, 2011 at 2:00 p.m. (EST) / 11:00 a.m. (PST), this webinar will provide a framework for the Keeping Families Together program and discuss evaluation results. Following the 40-minute presentation, all speakers will be available to answer your questions during a 20-minute Q&A session. What you will learn: The importance of connectivity in helping vulnerable families-specifically the impact of supportive housing on families who are chronically homeless and involved with child welfare. Overview of the Keeping Families Together model-a practical approach that holds significant promise for preserving vulnerable families and improving their health. Results from the Metis Associates evaluation on the Keeping Families Together pilot program.   Speakers will include: Nancy Barrand, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Connie Temple, Corporation for Supportive Housing Richard Cho, Corporation for Supportive Housing Alison Harte, Corporation for Supportive Housing-Keeping Families Together Metis Associates Eric Nicklas, Child Welfare Expert and Former Keeping Families Together Workgroup Member The deadline to register for this event is Monday, January 31. All participants will also have an opportunity to download an in-depth brochure detailing the program and a summary of the study results. To register:       1. Go to https://rwjf.webex.com/rwjf/onstage/g.php?      t=a&d=571998536       2. Select Register.       3. On the registration form, enter your information and then select Submit. We encourage you to join us on Wednesday, February 2. You are receiving this email because you requested to be added to our HomeFront e-newsletter mailing list. Thank you! Our CFC Number is: 45368 Unsubscribe cfisler@courts.state.ny.us from this list. Our mailing address is: Corporation for Supportive Housing 50 Broadway 17th Floor New York, NY 10004 Our telephone: 212-986-2966 Copyright (C) 2008 Corporation for Supportive Housing All rights reserved. Forward this email to a friend Update your profile

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Jobs as a Crime Prevention Strategy

It is one of the reentry movement's biggest challenges: encouraging employers to give individuals with criminal histories the opportunity to work, thus promoting stability and reducing recidivism.  A New York Times article published yesterday, "States Help Ex-Convicts Find Work," tells the nation how states around the country are trying to make individuals with records more palatable to employers through training and employment programs, and work subsidies.

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Repurposing Resources, Repurposing People: Why Osborne Went Green

At last Wednesday's Reentry Roundtable at The Community Service Society, John Valverde, told an audience of community advocates, law enforcement, and formerly incarcerated individuals why the Osborne Association decided to "go green" by beginning its Green Career Center one year ago. The Center's Director, Mr. Valverde,  said that it was no coincidence that the neighborhoods most impacted by pollution-borne illness and incarceration are one of the same.These are the neighborhoods, like the South Bronx where the Green Career Center is located, that have  historically been targeted for environmentally destructive land uses and burdened by unjust criminal justice policies. Civil Rights, he expressed, and environmental justice go hand and hand.

The Green Career Center represents how formerly incarcerated individuals can become "part of the solution."  Mr. Valverde passionately noted that, "If we don't include the most oppressed communities, those most impacted by environmental injustice, the Green Movement will fair. We will have left the poor and most impacted behind."  With this philosophy, Osborne's Green Center seeks to create leaders in a green economy that happen to be formerly incarcerated as well.  "If resources can be repurposed," he  said, "so can people's lives."

The Green Career Center offers a 6 week long training program that offers two weeks of soft training skills and four weeks of hard skills (including weatherization, green construction, and math and science, among others). Participants are also trained on environmental literacy and environmental justice.Assistance with job placement follows the formal curriculum.   For more information on Osborne's Green Career Center, click here.

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Finding a Castle

Today's New York Times' Opinionator, "For Ex-Prisoners, A Haven Away From the Streets," written by Tina Rosenberg hits exactly the right note as she describes released individuals' critical need for "pro-social" interactions and environments.  The Opinion piece highlights the Fortune's Society's success in offering its Castle tenants/clients exactly that.

"Former prisoners go back to their old neighborhoods and meet up with their old gang, or new people of the only type they may be comfortable with — criminals.  But what people need is to stop hanging out with associates who tempt them with promises of easy money or drug-filled nights.  They need to start hanging out with people who think about the consequences of their actions, who value legitimate jobs, sobriety and family — people who go to their A.A. meetings and G.E.D. classes, who are trying to rebuild their lives."

At the Task Force and Parole Reentry programs here at the Justice Center, we so often witness individuals released from prison only to the return to the same conditions they left and surrounded by the same individuals who influenced their decision-making prior to prison. It is part of our jobs to help connect our clients with environments and opportunities that offer them role models, community, and hope. There are not enough of  Fortune's Castle's to go around  (oh, how we wish there were!),but the concept is a critical one--we must assist clients, in whatever setting to which they are released, navigate towards finding their own Castles.

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GAINS Center to host Collateral Consequences Webinar January 18

Collateral Consequences: Involvement in the Criminal Justice System

Tuesday, January 18th – 3:00-5:00pm ET
The SAMHSA National GAINS Center is pleased to announce its upcoming Collateral Consequences: Involvement in the Criminal Justice System webinar as part of its technical assistance to justice-involved consumer/veteran focused initiatives across the nation.


“Collateral consequences” are indirect barriers individuals involved in the criminal justice system face as a result of their past experiences. These collateral consequences are often hidden and hard to identify until an individual is faced with having to directly deal with these consequences. They frequently impact on such areas as housing, employment and other benefits. Consequences are diverse and vary from state to state.


This webinar will: (1) identify many of the “collateral consequences” faced by people with histories of involvement in the criminal justice system; (2) identify strategies for eliminating or mitigating these consequences; and (3) provide concrete strategies for planners, service recipients, providers and advocates to use when addressing these barriers.

Learning Objectives:

Participants will learn the following:

· What constitutes a collateral consequence

· The impact of collateral consequences in areas such as housing and employment

· Strategies for eliminating or mitigating collateral consequences, including less than honorable discharges

· How supporting staff and prospective staff address collateral consequences

· New shifts and public policy directions

Speakers:

Guy Gambill

Justice Policy Institute

Sean Clark

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ Office of Mental Health Services

Gretchen Rohr

DC Jail & Prison Advocacy Project, University Legal Services

Clarence Jordan

ValueOptions Behavioral Health Services

Roberta Meyers-Peeples

Legal Action Center’s National H.I.R.E. Network

Call/Login Information

· To participate, simply call 1-888-456-0336. Your conference number is PW2346131 and your audience passcode is: JDTR.

· On your computer, go to the following link: https://www.mymeetings.com/emeet/join/index.jsp?customHeader=mymeetings&netId=PW2346131&netPass=JDTR&netType=conference&acceptTerms=on

It is usually helpful to join the call 15 minutes in advance, so we can ensure that your technology is working properly. Space is limited.

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Columbia University School of Social Work to host Reentry Skill Building Conference

Build your skills in the Criminal Justice field at our first-ever conference!

Saturday, January 29^th, 8:30 AM to 6:30 PM

Columbia University School of Social Work

1255 Amsterdam Ave. (between 121^st and 122^nd Streets)

[A,B,C or D to 125^th; 1 to 125^th; M11 or M60 buses]

FREE ADMISSION!

Light breakfast and lunch will be served!

Workshop leaders and presentations from formerly incarcerated people as well as leading organizations including the Children’s Defense Fund, Osborne Association, St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center, Safe Horizon Mediation Center, Families for Freedom, GEMS, Bronx Defenders and many more!

Register and get up-to-date information at criminaljusticecaucus.wordpress.com.

Questions? Comments?  Email criminaljusticecaucus@gmail.com or call 973.271.7579. 

Co-sponsors include Columbia President & Provost Student Event Fund, CUSSW Office of Student Services, CUSSW Student Union Executive Board, API Caucus, Black Caucus, Feminist Caucus, Hapa Caucus, International Social Welfare Caucus, Latin@ Caucus, Men’s Caucus, and Policy Caucus.

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Upper Manhattan Reentry Task Force spotlighted in the Harvard Journal of African American Public Policy

The Harvard Journal of African American Public Policy has just published an article written by Harlem Community Justice Center's very own Project Director, Christopher Watler, and former HCJC employee and founder of this blog, Kate Krontiris (now a master in public policy candidate at the John F. Kennedy School of Government).  Chris and Kate were crucial architects behind the Task Force. Their article, "Rethinking Prisoner Reentry in Harlem" traces "the development of the Upper Manhattan Reentry Task Force in the context of reentry reform efforts in New York State."

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Cell Phones In Cells

Vistors smuggle them in. Guards sell them. Family or friends toss them over fences.

No, not drugs, but something authorities are saying are much more dangerous: Smart Phones. 

Check out today's New York Time's fascinating article, "Outlawed, Cell Phones Are Thriving in Prisons" here.

Offered in the article is also a brief commentary on why limited use of cell phones might be helpful in assisting prisoners' reentry.

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