Justice Department Announces $53 Million in Grant Awards to Reduce Recidivism Among Adults and Youth

The Second Chance Act (SCA) programs, administered through the Office of Justice Programs’ (OJP’s) Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) and Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) support state, local and tribal community organizations in their efforts to reduce recidivism, provide reentry services and support research programs.

SCA funding covers a broad range of services, training, mentorship and technical assistance programs.

BJA grant awards:

• SCA Two-Phase Adult Reentry Demonstration, 10 awards totaling $7,774,158;
• SCA Reentry Program for Adults with Co-Occurring Substance Abuse and Mental Disorders, 10 awards totaling $5,989,258;
• SCA Mentoring, six awards totaling $5,983,401;
• National Reentry Resource Center (supplement), one award totaling $5,281,751
• SCA Statewide Recidivism Reduction (supplements), four awards totaling $3,995,861;
• SCA Technology Career Training Program, four awards totaling $2,949,536;
• SCA Statewide Recidivism Reduction Planning, seven awards totaling $594,222;
• SCA and Corrections Visiting Fellows, two awards totaling $487,551; and
• Vera Institute of Justice Postsecondary Education/Pell Experiment (supplement), one award totaling $200,000.

OJJDP grant awards:

• SCA Supporting Latino/a Youth from Out-of-Home Placement to the Community, six awards totaling $2,900,000;
• SCA Strengthening Relationships Between Young Fathers and Their Children: A Reentry Mentoring Project, seven awards totaling $2,939,067;
• SCA Strengthening Families and Children of Incarcerated Parents, three awards totaling  $1,239,276;
• SCA Comprehensive Statewide Juvenile Reentry System Reform Implementation, three awards totaling $2,196,894;
• SCA Smart of Juvenile Justice: Enhancing Youth Access to Justice Initiative, Training and Technical Assistance (to provide legal services to youth reentering the community), one award totaling, $708,106;
• SCA Smart on Juvenile Justice: Community Supervision, six awards totaling $1,000,000;
• SCA Smart on Juvenile Justice: Community Supervision Training and Technical Assistance, one award totaling $650,000; and
• Initiative to Develop Juvenile Reentry Measurement Standards, one award totaling $750,000.

These programs include training and job placement for incarcerated or detained adults and juveniles in technology-related jobs; training for mentors to assist pre- and post-release; screening and assessments pre-release and evidence-based treatment after incarceration to improve outcomes for incarcerated individuals with substance abuse and mental disorders; and assistance for jurisdictions providing reentry services to members of Native American tribes.

These grants also provide supplemental funding to improve existing reentry research and programs, including ongoing data-driven assessments of the needs, policy barriers and resource gaps for successful reentry.  Additional funding will enable the Vera Institute to deliver technical assistance in post-secondary education and corrections and to share best practices through its resource center.

In addition, the Justice Department awarded two fellowships: its first-ever Second Chance Visiting Fellow, Daryl Vincent Atkinson, who will engage formerly incarcerated individuals to gather what is needed for successful reentry; and a Corrections Visiting Fellow, Dr. Emily Wang of Yale University, who will measure the risk of hospitalization following prison release among Medicaid beneficiaries and the impact of community primary care on patient recidivism.

Lastly, the National Reentry Resource Center (NRRC) will continue to offer training and technical assistance for grantees and administer the What Works in Reentry Clearinghouse, a “one-stop shop” for research on the effectiveness of a wide variety of reentry programs and practices.  The NRRC collaborates with the Attorney General’s Federal Interagency Reentry Council (FIRC), and other federal agencies.

For more information on the NRRC, please visit: www.nationalreentryresourcecenter.org.

For more information on FIRC, please visit: csgjusticecenter.org/projects/firc/.

About OJP

OJP, headed by Assistant Attorney General Karol V. Mason, provides federal leadership in developing the nation’s capacity to prevent and control crime, administer justice and assist victims.  OJP has six components: BJA; the Bureau of Justice Statistics; the National Institute of Justice; OJJDP; the Office for Victims of Crime and the Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering and Tracking.  More information about OJP can be found at www.ojp.gov.