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By Pat Nolan|Published Date: October 22, 2009
The Office of Justice Programs (OJP) has awarded the first 36 mentoring grants under the Second Chance Act, totaling $10 million.
This is exciting news because Prison Fellowship has found that providing a mentor to returning offenders increases their ability to benefit from other programs they participate in. These ex-offenders need healthy relationships even more than they need programs.
A mentor is there to help them think through the myriad decisions that confront them—where to live, how to get a job, where to get medical care. Even mundane things like obtaining a driver's license or a state ID. It is great news that the grants just issued by OJP will be used to help build the capacity of local communities to match returning offenders with a mentor.
There were 507 applications for the grants, a figure much larger than OJP had anticipated. This is solid evidence of the large number of local groups that understand the importance of mentors to successful reentry. If you applied and didn’t receive a grant, don’t despair.
OJP expects to announce a new competition for mentoring grants after the beginning of the year. The Obama administration has requested $100 million for the Second Chance Act in the coming fiscal year, an increase of $75 million over this year’s funding. Now is the time to begin preparing your new application.
For those organizations that weren’t awarded a grant, OJP will send a critique of your application by the peer review panel. This will be very helpful in developing your new proposal.
You can always find the latest information about prisoner reentry and the Second Chance Act on our Prisoner Reentry Resource Page.
In other news, Justice Fellowship tries to utilize all of the new media to keep you informed on the latest news, commentary and research on criminal justice reform and restorative justice. I hope you will take advantage of Justice Fellowship’s resources through each of these media:
- Website – We have totally revamped Justice Fellowship’s website. I hope you will visit the new site to explore the many resources we have posted to assist you in advocating for justice reform.
- Twitter – Follow us on Twitter. We will keep you informed up to the minute – literally.
- Facebook – Become a fan of Justice Fellowship on Facebook.
- Justice eReport – I hope you find these commentaries interesting and helpful. I try to include links that will be useful to you. Please forward it to your friends and colleagues, and suggest that they subscribe as well.
Please let us know how you like these resources and any suggestions for topics that we should cover. It is a joy to work with you and for the Kingdom.
In His service,
Pat Nolan
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