Second Chance Act Grantee Success Stories
Second Chance Month
April 2023
Second Chance Act Grantee Success Stories
Around the country, state, tribal, and local government agencies and non-governmental organizations are harnessing funding from the federal Second Chance Act (SCA) to improve reentry outcomes, reduce recidivism, and build and maintain safe, thriving communities.
Reentry is not simply a program or practice, but rather a coordinated commitment across law enforcement, courts, corrections, probation and parole, community service providers, communities, families, and individuals to ensure that the transition from incarceration leads to full reintegration and restoration.
Working with the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) and Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) SCA training and technical assistance providers, and the hundreds of SCA grantees they serve, the NRRC is spotlighting grantee accomplishments. The stories below highlight some key successes and explore the lessons learned along the way, what worked and what did not, and what is next for the grantee.
Stay tuned to this page as we add to the library of success stories from SCA grantees nationwide.
Lancaster County, Nebraska Community Corrections
FY 2019 Second Chance Act Innovations in Reentry Program
Lancaster County Community Corrections built upon the success of their Sentence Conversion Reentry Program working with young men to create The Women’s Reentry Program, which uses a gender-specific risk and needs tool and a trauma-informed, gender-specific treatment for substance use services and transitional housing. (March 2023)
Hawai'i Department of Health, Adult Mental Health Division
FY 2019 Second Chance Act Improving Reentry for Adults with Co-Occurring Substance Use and Mental Illness
The Hawai’i Department of Health’s New Directions Jail Diversion Program employs Forensic Peer Specialists with lived experiences with mental health disorders to provide stabilization and other supports to individuals with psychiatric and/or co-occurring challenges who are involved in the criminal justice system to immediately begin case management and treatment without ever going to jail (March 2023).
Freedom Life Ministries Reentry Intensive Program
FY 2018 Second Chance Act Comprehensive Community-Based Adult Reentry Program
Freedom Life Ministries (FLM)—a faith-based, rural organization in Marion, North Carolina—is supporting reentry initiatives and helping individuals who are involved with the justice system successfully reintegrate into their communities by providing basic necessities, support services, mentorship, and life skills to prevent recidivism (March 2023).
District of Columbia Department of Corrections
FY 2017 Statewide Recidivism Reduction
Working from a strategic plan focused on identifying ways to prepare individuals who were incarcerated to reenter District neighborhoods, improve reentry outcomes, and reduce recidivism, the District of Columbia Department of Corrections (DC DOC) implemented tablet-based cognitive behavioral interventions that allow its clinicians and case managers to work more effectively with residents preparing for reentry into their communities. (March 2023).
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