Second chances often don’t come easy for men after they leave jail, but a new project started by Hope Network is working to change that.
The Jail Reentry Project - Ready4Work teaches men the skills they need to find employment once they get out of the Kent County Jail. Reentry consultants begin working with them while they are still incarcerated, but the support doesn’t stop there. The Ready4Work staff continues to assist the men long after they get out of jail to guide them through their challenges.
Still relatively new, Ready4Work began in January of this year with an initial grant of $100,000 from the Richard and Helen DeVos Foundation. Recently, the Grand Rapids Community Foundation granted the organization another $50,000 to expand and strengthen the program.
Laurie Craft, program director at the Community Foundation, appreciates the ongoing mentoring aspect of the program.
“(Studies) are finding that the longer you can support someone, the better results you get,” she says.
Ready4Work Reentry Consultant Ron Stuursma and another consultant meet weekly with men in what the jail calls the “reentry pod,” a separate area where those who are about to be released stay.
Each Tuesday, they meet for a full day with the roughly 30 men split into two groups - the freshmen, who are in the first four weeks of the program, and the seniors finishing the last four weeks of training.
The men learn how to create resumes and cover letters, how to answer interview questions, and other basic job readiness skills. Many of these men, usually in their mid-twenties, only have a 10th grade or less education level and most do not have much of a work history, if any at all.
It’s for this reason that the Ready4Work program goes beyond simply teaching workforce skills -- they teach them an attitudinal component as well. Lessons on how to deal with risk factors and barriers are taught. They teach acceptable attitudes required by employers and also get the men thinking about who they will surround themselves with once they get out of jail.
“We found they needed more than the technical skills,” says Stuursma.
The consultants from the Ready4Work program collaborate with those from Network 180, who teach the same men how to change the way they think with cognitive behavior training.
Once the eight-week Ready4Work program is complete and the men are released from jail, they are expected to report to Hope Network within five days for an additional two weeks of intensive training to prepare them for competitive or transitional work options.
Hope Network Industries (HNI) is one such transitional work option for the men. This training division of the organization acts as a real packing production business for area companies and it gives people an opportunity to prove they’re capable of holding a job.
Ready4Work reentry consultants meet with the HNI employee and his supervisor weekly to review progress. They want to make sure the employee is doing a good job, showing up for work regularly and on time, and after 90 days of a positive track record, the consultants then help them find a position in the competitive job market.
While the Ready4Work program is still too new to measure its success, Stuursma says the “preliminary numbers look good.” So far, they’ve worked with 40 men; four of them are now employed and another 12 are working at Hope Network Industries, with more to start soon.
“Our goal is to stay with these men for at least six months after they get out of jail,” says Stuursma.
Typically, almost 50 percent of the men released from jail end up back there within two to three years. With the Ready4Work program, the hope is to get that number down to 25 percent or less. Stuursma and his colleagues know they can’t help everyone, but they are going to try to help as many men as possible see the advantages of having a job and staying out of jail.
If you believe everyone deserves a second chance and want to support the Jail Reentry Project - Ready4Work, here’s how:
- Visit
Hope Network online to find out more about what they do.
-
Donate to the organization.
- Like Hope Network on
Facebook.
- Follow
@HopeNetworkNews on Twitter.
Here’s how you can also support the Grand Rapids Community Foundation continue to give grants to organizations like Hope Network:
- Visit the
Grand Rapids Community Foundation online to find out more.
- Like Grand Rapids Community Foundation on
Facebook.
- Follow
@GRCommFound on Twitter.
Sources: Ron Stuursma, Reentry Consultant at Hope Network, and Laurie Craft, Program Director at Grand Rapids Community Foundation
Writer: Heidi Stukkie, Do Good Editor
Images provided by Hope Network.