Helping hands: New programs provide resources to incarcerated women in Centre, Clearfield counties
The local nonprofit organizations Go Reentry Inc. and Community Conferencing of Centre County are the recent recipients of grant funding through the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency (PCCD). The grant funding is specific to women’s reentry services and will be used by both organizations to provide women in Centre and Clearfield counties with holistic, improved reentry support services. We are thrilled to have been granted this funding and look forward to collaborating in order to provide returning citizens with services meant to ease their transition back into the community.
Mark Frailey, the executive director of Go Reentry Specialists, is excited to provide his programming, “Women’s Hope Restoration Project” (WHRP) to women in Centre and Clearfield County correctional facilities. His grant funding will enable Go ReEntry to continue teaching “ReEntry Strategies” to women while they are still incarcerated. The WHRP also provides funding for two case managers, one full-time and one part-time, who will meet with each woman weekly, starting while they are incarcerated and continuing after release.
Go ReEntry will also teach “Parenting Inside Out,” which is an evidence-based parenting program with great results, ” to women while they are incarcerated. Statistically, those who take this class are less likely to reoffend and return to incarceration. Go ReEntry will also have funding to help those in the WHRP program with their basic needs. Mark notes that, “Our goal is to help women leave incarceration and never return. We want them to be successful members of our communities and are committed to connecting them to the resources and support they need to be successful.”
Elizabeth Siegelman of Community Conferencing received funding for her project, “Enhancing Women’s Reentry Services: A Three-Step Model,” which will provide enhanced reentry service to women at the Centre County Correctional Facility. Her project is a partnership between Community Conferencing and PA CareerLink, with the goal of decreasing some of the most prevalent barriers to successful reentry: family reunification, job preparedness and peer support. Given these common barriers, the three-step model will provide returning citizens with family reunification/reentry conferencing through Community Conferencing, career counseling and job placement through PA CareerLink career, and peer support through a reentry support group led by Community Conferencing. “Community Conferencing’s partnership with PA CareerLink is cost effective, evidence-based, and dedicated to providing much needed reentry services to this marginalized cohort with care and sensitivity,” Elizabeth notes.
Go ReEntry and Community Conferencing would like to thank the tax payers of Pennsylvania for funding this important work. We would also like to thank the leadership and administrations of both Clearfield and Centre County Correctional Facilities for supporting our reentry programming. For more details about these grant funded projects, contact Mark at chiefmf01@yahoo.com or Elizabeth at ersiegelman@cacj.us.
