CT Post | July 16, 2016
BRIDGEPORT – Mayor Joe Ganim on Saturday announced that The WorkPlace, a nonprofit organization based in Bridgeport, has been awarded a $500,000 federal grant by the U.S. Department of Labor for its efforts to prepare women inmates at the York Correctional Institute for release.
The York facility, women’s prison located in Niantic, and The WorkPlace has worked in partnership with the state Department of Corrections and the City of Bridgeport preparing inmates for release and helping with job preparedness once exoffenders are released and back in community. Specifically, The WorkPlace will use the grant to conduct the Linking to Employment Activities Pre-release Program. This two year project at York will serve 125 female inmates in a 20-town region.
“This awarding of this grant is a huge boost that will help a key piece of our local second-chance initiative,” said Ganim. “The WorkPlace, under the direction of Joe Carbone. has been a leader for years helping inmates prepare for release and all the burdens they will face post incarceration, and their work has great positive impact on our community. I know personally that there is a stark difference in the mentality it takes to succeed in prison and then transition back to the outside world. Without help, many fail and end up right back in prison which tears apart families and communities and is extremely costly for taxpayers. In Bridgeport alone we have more than 1,000 returning citizens coming back from incarceration every year, and many are women.
“We want them to be ready to reenter the work force with both the skills needed to succeed and the confidence that they are supported by family, friends, and their community,” Gamin said.
Ganim ran Bridgeport from 1991 until 2003 when he was convicted of federal corruption charges. He spent seven years in prison, but waged a successful comeback last year in part by portraying himself as the candidate of second chances. And Bridgeport certainly has plenty of people in need of them. An estimated 1,100 prisoners are released into Connecticut’s largest municipality annually.
In early June, Ganim, business and non-profit leaders announced an effort to help those individuals secure employment. It involved not only pro-actively lobbying private companies to take a chance on ex-cons, but to set up a pot of money that would help pay for the first six to eight weeks of their salaries. On Tuesday, the City Council’s budget committee Tuesday unanimously tabled committing $50,000 to help ex-felons find employment.
The grant announced Saturday is a boost for the second-chance initiative.
The WorkPlace was one of only 10 applicants nationally who were funded. This is their fourth grant award in the reentry sector in the last year. The funds will be matched with three federal Second Chance competitive grants secured by The WorkPlace, Inc., the region’s local Workforce Investment Board and Career Resources, Inc., the founder of the Bridgeport Reentry Collaborative and the operator of the American Job Center.
Carbone, president and CEO of The WorkPlace, said, “We are grateful for the opportunity to provide gender-focused, intensive workforce development services, along with connections to other resources to prepare female inmates for employment with the necessary supports upon release. I’m grateful to all our partners who helped us prepare this proposal including, Career Resources, Mayor Ganim and the city of Bridgeport as well as the Connecticut Department of Correction, Commissioner Scott Semple.”
The program will provide female inmates with gender-focused intensive workforce development and training. Participants will have the opportunity to earn employer-recognized credentials such as the National Retail Federation Customer Service and Sales, OSHA-10, ServSafe Food Handler, and the American Red Cross First Aid/CPR/AED certifications. Courses preparing participants for these credentials will be offered both pre- and post-release. Program staff will facilitate the formation of post-release peer groups that can function as both job clubs specifically discussing employment issues and as sources of support for participants facing other re-entry issues.
Employment development specialists/case managers will assess participants’ literacy and numeracy, educational level, work experience, and soft skills to develop individual service strategies. Following assessment, each participant will receive an Individual Employment Plan, which will guide both pre- and post-release activities. Career Resources will use the funds to develop a comprehensive community reintegration program with the help of the 40-member organizations of the Bridgeport ReEntry Collaborative. Specifically, the funds will be used to help establish a pilot entrepreneurial training center for returning citizens in space donated by The Regional Network of Programs on Bond Street.
They will further be used to establish a subsidized employment program in support of the fifteen local employers who publicly committed to hiring returning citizens under the Bridgeport Second Chance Promise compact.
http://www.ctpost.com/local/article/Workplace-gets-500-000-to-aid-reentry-of-female-8381918.php