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Home > Blogs > Dayton Courts: Legal and crime news > Archives > 2010 > March > 19 > Entry
Ex-offender rehabilitation effort receives $720,000 grant
DAYTON — A $720,000 state grant will fund a center to help ex-convicts become productive members of society, the Montgomery County Commission announced Friday, March 19.
“This grant will provide case management, employment services and drug and alcohol services for ex-offenders,” said U.S. District Senior Judge Walter H. Rice, who has co-chaired the county’s re-entry task force with Commissioner Debbie Lieberman for two years.
The “Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant” comes from the Ohio Department of Criminal Justice, which announced $4.7 in federal stimulus funds Friday in 14 areas to support re-entry initiatives. The Darke, Miami and Shelby counties re-entry task force netted $170,000 and the Clark County task force received $150,000. Those funds will be used to develop re-entry programs.
The Montgomery County task force has developed a strategic plan, identifying several issues that cause barriers for ex-offenders, including housing, family problems and employment. The Task Force has more than 75 community leaders, including elected officials, law enforcement officials, faith-based leaders, employers and ex-offenders.
The new grant will fund a Welcome One-Stop Re-entry Center (WORC) and a Montgomery County Office of Ex-Offender Re-entry, where ex-offenders will have their needs assessed and get access to services they need to help successfully re-integrate into the community, Rice said.
“We are very excited about the transitional jobs incubator, which will provide resources to the community for the development of transitional jobs programs that have been very successful throughout the country in assisting ex-offenders to gain full-time employment,” Rice said.
The grant period will cover 20 months. It will allow the pieces of the re-entry effort to be developed while officials continue to seek permanent funding, according Cathy Petersen, communications director for the county.
Ohio’s prisons are currently at 132 percent capacity and many county jails remain overcrowded. But nearly every person incarcerated in a jail and about 97 percent of those incarcerated in prisons nationwide will eventually be released, according to task force reports.
Spending on corrections has increased faster than any other item in state budgets except health care, and two out of every three people released from prison are re-arrested within three years of release. Three-quarters have a history of substance abuse, and two-thirds lack a high school diploma.
“These federal funds will allow us to implement the strategic plan and really see changes in how our community works with people coming back to Dayton and Montgomery County from the Ohio prison system,” Lieberman said.
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