State
Activities & Resources
California
Serious and Violent Offender Reentry
Initiative Grantees | Other OJP
Activities & Resources | State
Agency Contacts | Local Organizations & Resources
Serious and Violent Offender Reentry
Initiative Grantees
California Department of Corrections (Amount: $2,000,000*)
The California Department of Corrections plans to use its FY 2002
funds to implement the Going Home–Los Angeles Program (GHLA), which
will combine existing reentry programs for state parolees in Los
Angeles, CA. The program will identify, enhance, and disseminate
information on best practices in reentry services; examine and
remove barriers that prevent coordination of services; refine and
improve existing systems by consulting a broad range of decisionmakers
and service providers; and strive to become self-sustaining. GHLA’s
targeted population includes male felons ages 18–35 who are at
a high risk of reoffending. GHLA will pilot its participant enrollment
process at the Substance Abuse Treatment Facility and State Prison
at Corcoran, CA. The program will include a minimum of 200 parolees
over 3 years. For
more information, read this grantee’s workplan.
Local contact: Kevin Wortell, 916–324–0962.
City of Oakland—Department of Human Services (Amount:
$1,000,000*)
The City of Oakland will build on the existing Project Choice,
which provides intensive postrelease services and supervision to
young Oakland parolees. Project Choice currently provides an array
of services including employment training, adult education, mental
health and substance abuse treatment, and intensive supervision
for parolees returning to their communities. The project will increase
the number of ex-offenders served, begin reentry planning and service
provision 6–12 months prior to parole, and intensify postrelease
supervision. Project Choice will recruit 120 high-risk male offenders
ages 14–29 from the California Department of Corrections (CDC)
and California Youth Authority (CYA) facilities nearest Oakland
(CDC’s San Quentin State Prison, two CDC community reentry centers
in Oakland, and CYA’s Northern California Youth Correctional Center
in Stockton). The project is supported by local partners, including
the community college district and community-based organizations
funded by foundations and governmental sources. In addition, Alameda
County is providing substantial behavioral health funding. For more
information, read this grantee’s workplan.
Local contact: Sara B. Bedford, 510–238–6794.
[Asterisks indicate award amounts that are subject to final
review.]
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Other OJP Activities & Resources
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State Agency Contacts
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Local Organizations & Resources
California Youth Authority
Executive
Office
4241 Williamsbourgh Drive, Suite 201
Sacramento, CA 95823–2088
916–262–1480
916–262–1483 (fax)
www.cya.ca.gov
The California Youth Authority has undertaken several promising
programs that require offenders to take personal responsibility
for their actions. Two of these programs are described below.
- Institute for Conflict Management—Orange, CA. The Institute
for Conflict Management is sponsored by the St. Vincent de Paul
Society, a church-related and community-based social services
agency. Before bringing a victim and offender together, a mediator
meets separately with each party and listens to his or her story.
The mediator explains the mediation process and invites both
parties to participate in the mediation process. During the mediation
session, the victim and offender discuss the crime and its impact
on their lives and devise a plan for the offender to make amends.
- Neighborhood Citizens Committee—Long Beach, CA. The community
volunteers on this committee are dedicated to helping youth who
have committed minor offenses. Volunteers listen to the youth
and his or her family, give attention to the juvenile as an individual,
and supervise community service that emphasizes responsibility,
contributes to society, and helps the youth develop an awareness
of the community through exposure to new people, places, and
events.
Center for Delinquency
and Crime Policy Studies
California State University, Sacramento
7750 College Town Drive, Suite
104
Sacramento, CA 95826
www.csus.edu/ssis/cdcps/
The Center for Delinquency and Crime Policy Studies (CDCPS), which
began operations in August 1998, is housed in California State
University’s College of Social Sciences and Interdisciplinary Studies.
The center brings an interdisciplinary focus to issues in juvenile
delinquency and crime. CDCPS projects address policy, program development,
and outcome evaluation and are national, statewide, and regional
in perspective. Several projects are currently being managed within
the framework of the center, including the Intensive Aftercare
Program, the High-Risk Youth Education and Public Safety Program
Evaluation, and Research on Youth Gangs in Indian Country.
Community Ex-Offenders Program
Monika Hudson
City of East Palo Alto
Offender Supervision and Reentry
East Palo Alto, CA 94303
650–853–3100
The city of East Palo Alto, CA, in cooperation with Free At Last,
a community-based nonprofit agency, received a $150,000 grant award
for the Community Ex-Offenders Program. Through this program, a
collaborative alliance was formed among the community, businesses,
and criminal justice agencies to provide a multifaceted approach
to enable adults and youth on probation and parole to reenter and
reintegrate into the community through work programs.
DeWitt
Nelson Youth Correctional Facility
P.O. Box 213003
7650 South Newcastle Road
Stockton, CA 95213–9003
209–944–6113
www.cya.ca.gov/DivisionsBoards/DJJ/about/locations/dewittn.html
Restorative justice requires offenders to take personal responsibility
for their actions and to actively work to repair the harm they
have caused victims and the community. In addition, restorative
justice projects give offenders the opportunity and encouragement
to improve their skills and abilities and enable them to gain insight
into their role in the community. This insight will lead to a more
positive and successful transition back into the community. This
program, located in the DeWitt Nelson Correctional Facility, which
is part of the Northern California Youth Correctional Center in
Stockton, CA, encourages the community to view offenders as essential
resources whose work is valuable to the community.
Free at Last
1796 Bay Road
East Palo Alto, CA 94303
650–462–6999
650–462–1055 (fax)
freelast@best.com
Free at Last, a nonprofit agency based in East Palo Alto, CA,
offers a full range of services from street outreach and intervention
to bilingual substance abuse treatment, transitional housing, and
long-term aftercare to more than 4,200 people. Its clients include
adolescents, young adults, and parents. The agency’s community-based
model helps to reduce the spread of HIV, break the cycle of addiction
and incarceration, rebuild families, foster self-sufficiency through
employment, and establish a strong community of recovery.
Juvenile Reintegration
and Aftercare Center
The Center for Delinquency & Crime Policy
Studies
California State University, Sacramento
7750 College Town Drive,
Suite 104
Sacramento, CA 95826
916–278–6259
916–278–4560 (fax)
www.csus.edu/ssis/cdcps
The mission of the Intensive Aftercare Program (IAP) Juvenile
Reintegration and Aftercare Center is to help agencies, both public
and private, develop and implement programming for successful transition
and reentry of juvenile offenders into the community from out-of-home
placement. The Center’s primary goal is to promote best practices
in juvenile transition and aftercare systems through training,
technical assistance, ongoing research, and linkage with other
technical assistance and service providers. The Intensive Community-Based
Aftercare model provides for increased public safety and normalization
of offenders in the community by providing intensified treatment
services and higher levels of community surveillance.
Mothers Against Murder and Assault
1811 11th Avenue
Oakland, CA 94606
510–261–0800
510–637–0362 (fax)
Since 1997, the community-based organization Mothers Against Murder
and Assault (MAMA) has been providing rehabilitative services to
high-risk, young (ages 14–18) male offenders adjudicated in Alameda
County, CA. The program was founded and is operated by women who
have lost loved ones to homicide. MAMA’s experience providing rehabilitative
services to young offenders and its long history of successful
collaboration with local agencies have resulted in a comprehensive
intervention approach that reintegrates youth into their communities.
The program's strengths are its ability to develop new resources
and support in the community and to decrease the number of barriers
that prevent youth from reintegrating upon release. By facilitating
and monitoring the interaction between youth and their communities,
the MAMA Aftercare Program endeavors to change attitudes and norms
among youth, their peers, and their families in an attempt to interrupt
the cycle of violence in the most dangerous neighborhoods. MAMA
has had great success in reducing the number of overall offenses
of program participants. Participants who have reoffended have
had a greater time lapse between offenses and have been convicted
of far lesser crimes than those offenders who have not received
MAMA’s services.
Re-Entry Prison and Jail Ministry
P.O. Box 620
Chula Vista, CA 91912
reentry@reentry.org
reentry.org
Re-Entry Jail and Prison Ministry is a ministry based in San Diego,
California, that offers resource information to chaplains and jail
ministers who help ex-offenders.
Sacramento County Reentry Orientation
ctti@attbi.com
In October 2000, the California Department of Corrections, in
partnership with the Sacramento Police Department, the Sacramento
County Sheriff’s Department, the California Highway Patrol, and
the Sacramento City Unified School District’s Adult and Vocational
Education Department initiated a mandatory orientation for all
parolees returning to Sacramento County. Orientation meetings are
held on Tuesdays and each parolee must attend one immediately
following release. More than 4,000 parolees return to Sacramento
County each year. At the orientation, parolees hear from an inspirational
speaker, have their personal information updated, receive ID cards
from the Department of Motor Vehicles, speak with a number of social
services providers, and learn about various vocational education
programs. One of the most successful vocational programs is the
Heavy Duty Truck Driver Training Program. This 18-week program
trains safe drivers, who spend a good deal of their time doing "project
driving" for various public agencies, thereby both gaining
experience and saving tax dollars in the process. The orientation
program has already shown success in reducing recidivism. Overall,
75 percent of California parolees statewide recidivate within 24
months. In comparison, only 47 percent of the parolees who have
attended the Sacramento County orientation and only 7 percent of
the parolees who have completed the Truck Driver Training Program
have returned to prison. For more information, contact Ward Allen
at 916–416–4049 or Bob Martinez at 916–445–4950.
Save Our Future
3210 West Vernon Avenue, Suite A
Los Angeles, CA 90008
323–291–6623
323–291–6373 (fax)
Save Our Future is a community-based, nonprofit organization licensed
by the California Department of Children Services and chartered
by the California Department of Education to implement career development
and adult education services. The program is geared toward male
and female offenders and is structured to accommodate ethnic diversity.
The goal of this program is to work with youth to help them understand
that they are responsible for acquiring the skills necessary to
become productive members of society. Program participants are
taught how to set personal goals and objectives for attaining gainful
employment. The program curriculum is customized to provide optimal
social enrichment for each program participant. Save Our Future
is a 3- to 18-month program that annually serves over 360 youth.
The program offers the following services: help in obtaining a
high school diploma, computer training, literacy skills, family
counseling, HIV/AIDS education, job placement, social-skills development,
self-esteem development, and substance abuse counseling.
If you know of a local organization or resource that should
be added here, please e-mail us at askreentry@ncjrs.org.
Be sure to write "Local Organizations & Resources" in
the subject line. Provide a brief one-paragraph description of
the organization or resource and include any appropriate contact
information (name of organization or resource, name of contact
person, mailing address, phone number, fax number, e-mail address,
and URL).
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