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Welcome to Safer Foundationand on behalf of everyone
Thank you for joining in the alliance!
Letter from the PresidentA Vision of a Road Back
Over thirty years ago two people recognized that individuals leaving prison faced a stigma that made finding employment difficult. Yet they desperately needed jobs if they were going to turn their lives around and support their families. And so Safer Foundation was founded.
Today America leads the world with its incarceration rate and 98% of individuals with a record return home and face more complex challenges to getting and keeping a job.
What has never changed is Safer Foundation's purpose in terms of who we serve, individuals with a criminal record, and what we offer, productive employment. We have known all along that if you want safer communities you need organizations like Safer Foundation.
It is gratifying that reentry is now recognized as an important issue that has captured our nation's attention and support. And the Safer Foundation is among the leading community organizations in the reentry discussions now occurring at national, state and local levels.
If America is to succeed in addressing this complex and expensive issue, it must be a cooperative effort. And that includes you and every other concerned citizen and taxpayer.
Sincerely,
B. Diane Williams
Safer Foundation President/CEO B. Diane Williams
Safer's mission is to reduce recidivism by supporting, through a full spectrum of
services, the efforts of people with criminal records to become employed, law-
abiding members of the community.
Faces of Safer Foundation
The StatisticsBelow are data, gathered from independent sources, showing a breakdown of individuals affected by
incarceration.
•As Safer Foundation continues to be a leader in prisoner reentry services, more and more people with criminal records are coming through Safer's doors. Over the past eight years, the number of people seeking Safer's services has increased by 255 percent.
•Safer Foundation has helped lower Illinois' recidivism rate for over three decades. When Safer clients achieve employment for at least 30 days, they are 58% less likely to return to prison. Safer's recidivism study is conducted independently by Loyola University in Chicago.
•Since 1998 about 600,000 people per year are released from U.S. prisons. In 1980, 170,000 people were released
•Safer GED, students are assisted in enrolling in post Foundation is an official testing center for the GED, and more than 300 people earn their GED at Safer each year. Safer programs provide classes leading to a GED, and extensive training and coaching in job readiness and life skills. After obtaining their -secondary or vocational training programs, or transitioning directly into the workforce.
•The United States has the highest rate of incarceration in the world at 699 inmates per 100,000 population. This surpasses Russia’s rate of 644 and South Africa’s of 400 and compares unfavorably to the United Kingdom at 125, Canada at 110 and Japan at 40. These increases are primarily due to mandatory sentencing policies such as mandatory minimums, three-strikes and truth in sentencing, rather than increasing crime rates. Source: The Sentencing Project
•More than 400 employers hire Safer Foundation clients. Each employer helps reduce recidivism, while helping their company's bottom line. Find out how to hire a Safer client.
•With over 2,700 client job starts in 2009, Safer saved the state more than $59 million in prison costs alone. If someone has a job they are better able to care for themselves and their families. Not only are employed individuals less likely to commit crimes, but they also become taxpayers, growing the state revenue where they used to subtract from it.
•Among people on probation, 46% are black, 35% are white, 21% are Hispanic, and 3% are other. 52% of U.S. prison inmates are housed for non-violent offenses related to drugs, property or public disorder/other. Source: The Sentencing Project
•The population of U.S. federal and state prisons and local jails in 2000 exceeded 2,000,000 people. When the 4.5 million people on parole and probation are included, the total is 6.5 million representing a 240% increase since 1980.
•Helping those with criminal records find jobs has directly led to a decrease in recidivism. Though 51 percent of those released by the Illinois Department of Corrections are arrested for another crime within three years, that number drops to 22 percent among clients finding employment for at least 30 days through Safer’s program. Those maintaining steady employment for over a year through Safer’s programs have a recidivism rate of just 13 percent.
Through each of our partner sites, Safer provides clients with the support and training needed to reenter the job market. Many program participants have limited to no job experience, so as part of the Faith and Community-Based Initiative, Safer and its partners offer a variety employment and retention services, including assistance with basic life skills and job-readiness training.
Safer Foundation Reentry Counselors provide clients with valuable resources needed to assist with the transition process. From housing arrangements and legal assistance to substance abuse treatment, healthcare, and mental health counseling, clients receive direction for a variety of reentry needs. The Reentry Counselors are located at each of the partner sites, where the provide direct services to program participants.
At each location, mentors work with clients during biweekly group sessions. With a 2:4 mentor to mentee group structure, clients are able to share their experiences and discuss strategies for parenting, job-searching, and other issues confronted during the reentry process. While the faith partners recruit and select their own mentors, Safer helps by providing background screening and training.
Mentoring1 Reentry Counseling2
Employment/Retention Assistance
3
Safer’s Faith and Community-Based Initiative focuses on the neighborhoods most affected by reentry: including Englewood, East Garfield Park, Auburn Gresham, Austin, Harvey, and Maywood. The services
provided within these communities have three primary aspects. These include:
Technology helps to stimulate minds and assist individuals to stay knowledgeable and competitive in today’s job market.
You are an important factor of the equation within our clients life.
Before we go further within our programs you will be facilitatingHere’s a different look at your mission with us:
Zack Matera: Growing Knowledge http://youtu.be/OE63BYWdqC4
PACE Institute
As a division of the Safer Foundation Educational Services Department, the PACE Institute provides adult literacy and GED preparation to Cook County Department of Corrections (CCDOC) detainees who voluntary request to improve upon their educational level.
PACE delivers services to six divisions within CCDOC and has an independent study program that runs from one to three hours, four times a week.
Instructional Model and Methodology• The PACE curriculum consists of three different learning domains: math,
writing, and reading.• The math curriculum contains fifteen objectives, beginning with addition and
subtraction and continuing through algebraic word problems. • The writing courses contain thirteen objectives ranging from sentence logic
through inventive composition. • The reading curriculum centers on seven objectives as students learn
everything from decoding to inference.• The PACE program ties the academic tasks to the mastery of each objective
and allows students to use each in practical contexts.• PACE uses a variety of materials to accomplish its goal. While students use
some standard adult education textbooks, particularly for reading exercises, the tutors in the program use a variety of texts, worksheets, and spontaneously created tasks to help keep students engaged so that they can achieve their goals.
Safer’s Youth Education ProgramSafer Foundation's education program provides clients between 16 and 21 years of age the academic tools and job readiness training needed to succeed and become productive members of society.
Youth Education Program
•Safer Foundation's youth education program allows young people the chance to study for and take their GED.•For many young people between the ages of 16 and 21 who have already had a brush with the criminal justice system, traditional school is just a bad memory. And yet without a high school diploma, the likelihood that these young people will successfully turn their lives around is remote. •The classroom is treated as if it is a workplace, where students are expected to show up on time, attend every day and focus on the tasks at hand. Here, education is made relevant to the real world by focusing on problem-solving abilities and workplace expectations. •At the conclusion of an intensive 8-week session, students have the opportunity to take the GED exam and Safer staff assures that all students move on to their appropriate next step-whether that be college, vocational training or a job. All students have the benefit of a Safer Intensive Case Manager who follows students for one to two years after their class session has ended.•Safer Foundation also received accreditation as an official GED test site, allowing students to take the exam at the same location where they attend classes.
Statewide Partnership to Increase Safety through Employment (SPISE) Safer Foundation teamed with the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) and local community colleges to form SPISE, a multi-year project aimed at providing parolees with both pre- and post-release job readiness and placement services.
Statewide Partnership to Increase Safety through
Employment (SPISE)Program Structure
SPISE is a mandatory job preparedness program with two main emphases: in-prison instruction and post-release job development and placement. The two are interrelated and require a coordinated delivery approach. The total program covers a total of 90 hours, with 60 devoted to training and instruction.
Each client participating in the program will have three hours of morning classroom instruction and three hours of afternoon computer lab for a total of 10 sessions. During the final two sessions, clients participate in several mock interview sessions that include their community college instructor, the Safer regional coordinator, and community post-release staff.
Program Accomplishments
The SPISE initiative’s achievements in the first year included:• Training all Illinois community college
instructors in the Safer Foundation Job Coaching methodology
• Installing state-of-the-art computer labs in 38 prisons, consisting of 953 computers
• Developing and implementing job readiness training and computer lab tutorials
• Completing an outcome analysis of the 10 highest reentry communities according to the Egan Urban Center Environmental Scan
• Enrolling 5,343 clients into the program, of which 3,996 graduated by the end of the year
Motivational Interviewing Methodology
Here’s a quick introduction
Four Motivational Interviewing principles are as follows:
1. Express Empathy
It is important that adults working with young people seek to understand their feelings in a non-judgmental manner.
Key pointsAcceptance facilitates change; Skilful reflective listening is crucial (see Active listening strategies.); Ambivalence about the problem is normal.
2. Develop Discrepancy
MI aims to help the young person develop a discrepancy between the present state of affairs and how they might like things to be. This may be through an understanding of the costs associated with the current behavior and the potential advantages of behavioral change.
Key pointsThe young person rather than the adult should present the arguments for change; Change is motivated by a perceived discrepancy between present behavior and important personal goals or values.
3. Roll with Resistance
Trying to directly persuade a young person to change their behavior is unlikely to be successful. In fact, it might have the effect of increasing resistance to behavioral change. Finally, ‘resistant’ behaviors may indicate that the adult needs to use a different approach with the young person.
Key pointsAvoid arguing for change; Do not directly oppose resistance; New perspectives are invited but not imposed; The young person is a primary resource in finding answers and solutions; Resistance is a signal to respond differently.
4. Support Self-efficacy
Self-efficacy refers to a person’s belief in their ability to carry out and succeed with a particular task. It is a key factor in motivation and a good predictor of whether or not a young person will be able to change their behavior. If the young person does not think they can change, positive outcomes are very unlikely.
Key pointsA young person’s belief in the possibility of change is an important motivator; The young person, not the adult, is responsible for choosing and carrying out change; The adult’s own belief in the young person’s ability to change becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
The
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Motivation can be described as a state of readiness to change that may fluctuate at different times or in different situations. For example, somebody who is trying to give up smoking might find it easier to maintain change at home than in certain social situations. Prochaska and DiClemente (1982).described a series of stages through which people pass when addressing problematic behavior. This became known as the Trans-theoretical Model of Change. Later McNamara (1998) defined the Model of Stages of Change within an Educational Setting.
The general aim of MI is to help the young person ‘move round’ the Model of Stages of Change, perhaps from a stage where they have not even really thought about changing their behavior.
OCT NOV DEC JAN FEB MAR
Project titleSurveys Deadline 11/15/2011
Surveys were sent out on 10/03/2011
Assessments will be sent out on 12/02/2011
Assessment Deadline12/21/2011
Upcoming important dates:
