August 15, 2006
The New Hope Project
Selected to Test
Employment Strategy for Ex-Offenders
(Milwaukee) -- The New Hope Project has been selected to participate in a
$14.5 million initiative designed to test strategies to help people
leaving prison and jail connect to jobs. The Joyce Foundation has awarded
$5.4 million in grants to five programs in the Midwest to evaluate whether
“transitional jobs” can improve employment outcomes and reduce recidivism
for the growing number of people, currently estimated at 600,000, who
return home from the nation’s prisons each year.
Agencies in Chicago, Detroit, Milwaukee, and St. Paul will use the Joyce
funding to offer transitional jobs to men leaving prison, and researchers
will compare the results against traditional employment services. State
and local corrections officials will collaborate to identify participants
and, in most cases, provide additional funding. The grant awardees were
announced by the Foundation’s board at its July 20 meeting.
In the transitional jobs model, The New Hope Project will provide 200
participants with guaranteed access to employment through time-limited
subsidized jobs, financial incentives and individualized support in
employment coaching and planning. The New Hope Project will cover the
employee wages for up to four months for employers who provide real work
and supervision for participants in order to build up their recent work
history and experience.
“The economic picture has been bleak for many individuals with limited job
skills or problematic work histories, but men coming out of prison face
additional barriers in securing employment,” said Julie Kerksick,
Executive Director of the New Hope Project. “We have seen how transitional
jobs can help ex-offenders overcome their sense of hopelessness and
powerlessness in the face of a very challenging job market. We look
forward to putting that belief to the test of a random assignment
evaluation.”
According
to the National Corrections Reporting Program for 2001, Milwaukee County
ranks 21st out of 108 counties across the nation in terms of
having the highest number of returning prisoners.
The Wisconsin Department of Corrections releases approximately 8,600
offenders into communities each year statewide, with an average of almost
3,600 offenders released to Milwaukee County.
Nationally, the recidivism rate for re-offense is more than 60% for those
who do not have jobs or stable housing. Wisconsin Department of
Corrections data show that, in a three-year follow-up period for prison
releases between 1980 and 2002, more than 34,500 instances of a new
offense were documented, resulting in an overall recidivism rate of 38.7
percent.
“State officials, both elected and executive, recognize the growing
problem of ex-offenders returning to their communities with few prospects
for employment or positive re-connection,” said Kerksick. “Reducing
recidivism clearly is in the interest of our state, from a financial as
well as a moral standpoint. It is our hope that this test will provide
policy makers with hard data proving that the upfront investment in
transitional jobs programs will pay off in terms of lower rates of
recidivism.”
The New Hope Project was granted $588,520 over three years from the Joyce
Foundation and will partner with Project Return, the Kaiser Group, and the
Wisconsin Department of Corrections in this initiative. Milwaukee-based
Project Return
will provide employment services and The Kaiser Group will help
participants find unsubsidized jobs after completing their transitional
job. The Wisconsin Department of Corrections is contributing an initial
$177,000 to the project; other funding comes from Making Connections
Milwaukee, an initiative of the Annie E. Casey Foundation; the United Way;
the Greater Milwaukee Foundation; and other private foundations.
“We are extremely pleased to be a partner in The New Hope Project,”
Department of Corrections Secretary Matt Frank said. “While serious,
violent offenders need to be locked up for a very long time, we know that
the vast majority of inmates will one day be returned to Wisconsin
communities. Steady work experience and skills training improves the
chances that these individuals will become law-abiding, productive
citizens who are less likely to re-offend. We view our collaboration in
this project as an investment in crime prevention and enhanced public
safety.”
The five projects will be evaluated by MDRC, a New York-based research and
evaluation firm, in collaboration with the Urban Institute and the
University of Michigan. Evaluators will examine long-term employment,
income, and incarceration rates for participants who took transitional
jobs and compare them to those who got standard job placement services.
The results of the study, due in 2009, should both establish whether
transitional jobs are effective and also, by comparing different
initiatives, identify models that work especially well and people who
benefit most. The evaluation is being jointly funded by Joyce, at $2.3
million over four years; the New York-based JEHT Foundation, which is
contributing $1.1 million; and the U.S. Department of Labor, which is
committing an initial $99,500.
“Everyone is looking for strategies to help these men connect to jobs,
stay out of prison, support their families and contribute to their
communities,” said Joyce President Ellen S. Alberding. “We’re delighted at
the enthusiastic collaboration of states, leading social service agencies,
the U.S. Department of Labor, and other funders in this initiative. We
hope the study will provide the evidence to direct significant future
public investments in ways that can really make a difference for
ex-prisoners, their families, and the rest of us who will benefit if these
men can escape the vicious cycle of crime and imprisonment.”
Additional information
is available at the Joyce Foundation website:
http://www.joycefdn.org/news/newsmain-fs.html
###
08/15/2006
