| Have Prison, Need Reentry
Most of Rhode Island’s sentenced population comes from Providence. (Click on image for larger map.) |
Only 8 miles away, the prison on the outskirts of Providence, RI, is a constant reminder to Solangel Rodriguez of the need to convince people that reentry services are essential not only to ex-offenders but to the city as well.
As the Executive Director of the Rhode Island Family Life Center, Rodriguez often must outline the complexities of reentry programming for everyone from government officials to residents. She must explain that, in addition to the nearby prison's visible impact on the community, it also brings about more interaction among ex-offenders and residents than occurs in most cities. The statistics are sobering: 38 percent of the state's sentenced population comes from Providence, and the proportion of adult males incarcerated varies widely by neighborhood. The annual cost of incarcerating offenders from Providence alone exceeds $32 million. In more than half of the city's neighborhoods, at least 1 in 10 adult males is currently on probation or parole.
With high unemployment rates and a shortage of affordable housing, ex-offenders face many challenges when they are released. In the past, community groups may not have been excluding them as a group, Rodriguez noted, but they were not reaching out to them either.
The center was formed when a coalition of churches and community-based organizations came together with corrections officials to address the impact of disproportionate incarceration on the community. Today, the center's reentry program uses a holistic, family-based approach to support offenders as they prepare to leave prison, return home, and build stable lives in the community. Work with clients begins while they are still incarcerated; later, the center functions as a one-stop resource for ex-offenders and their families.
The center, which describes itself as a community-government partnership, works very closely with Weed and Seed to develop housing programs and plans for permanent supportive housing. The mission of the center meshes well with the Weed and Seed strategy. It not only advocates for ex-offenders and their families, but also promotes policies that improve overall community safety by reducing recidivism, removing barriers to reintegration, and focusing on crime prevention. For example, in a "big picture" sense, it works with government officials to change welfare policies to make them fair for ex-offenders; on a small scale, it provides space for GED classes and job training. The Weed and Seed site plays a coordinating role in connecting the center with different neighborhoods.
The center is proud to be located in the community, which allows ex-offenders to receive services in a familiar and welcoming environment where they are not judged and where they feel safe. "People are happy to know we're in the community to do this work," Rodriguez said. Staff members use crime mapping and other data to publicize the center's results to the local community. These community education efforts pay off: residents are receptive and likely to help out, thereby allowing the center to leverage resources.
The center has had to adapt its approach in just the short 2½ years since it opened its doors. Case management funding from the Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative has already ended, necessitating a shift from long-term case management to a more intense caseload structure that Rodriguez finds more challenging. "We have to do a lot more in a shorter period of time," she said.
Providence was chosen to be part of a 12-city joint national service project to support reentry, housing, employment, and mentoring initiatives through a CCDO/Corporation for National and Community Service initiative. The city has three AmeriCorps*VISTA members who are conducting research on microbusinesses as well as cognitive restructuring to find out what works and incorporate it into case management. The members also work on grant writing and database management.
"Our whole mission is to work with and for incarcerated individuals," she said. "We never turn them away."
For more information, contact:
Solangel Rodriguez
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