PRI PARTNERS

Awana Lifeline Prison Ministries, $40,000 for Program Operations: Awana operates programs in six Louisiana Department of Corrections prisons. They are focused on strengthening the bonds between incarcerated parents and their free children to stop the generational prison pipeline. Malachi Dads and Hannah’s Gift programs teach parenting to become spiritual nurturers and positive role models, while the Returning Hearts Celebration provides an opportunity for incarcerated parents to reunite with their children and develop relationships.

Capital Area Human Services District, $80,000 for Behavioral Health Reentry Program: CAHSD has partnered with East Baton Rouge Parish Prison to ensure those identified with mental illness/substance abuse are assessed upon admission by a Behavioral Health Professional and assisted by a Peer Support Specialist. A behavioral health care plan is developed that is followed while the person receiving help is incarcerated and for at least six months post-release.

Capital Area Reentry Coalition, $150,000 for Building the Best: The Coalition provides outreach for all reentry service providers in the 10-parish region. The Coalition will increase the number of partners and service providers, identify and disseminate best practices, and develop an advocacy plan for returning citizens.

Capitol Area Reentry Program, $50,000 for Connecting to Success: Partners Capitol Area Reentry Program and Turning Point Outreach Services provides family reunification, employment, and rehabilitation services to clients to resume being productive and contributing members of their community.

Christian Outreach Center of Baton Rouge, $30,000 for Life Transformation Program: This program provides job training, financial literacy, and life skills programming, combined with a matched savings program to provide stable transportation, education, and housing.

Church United for Community Development, $50,000 for Case Manager, Kingdom Men: Church United serves high-risk incarcerated and formerly incarcerated men from Ascension, East Baton Rouge, Livingston, Pointe Coupee, St. James and West Baton Rouge parishes through sober living, housing, individual action plans, and transitional employment.

Connections for Life, $20,000 for Connect2Empower: Connections for Life provides female returning citizens with a peer mentor and intensive case management, focusing heavily on job readiness, employment identification, and placement.

Frontline Legal Services, $40,000 for Prison Clinic Program: Frontline Legal Services will serve incarcerated individuals living with HIV/AIDS who are within 180 days of release, providing educational programming and linkage to medical care, substance abuse treatment, housing, and appropriate legal services.

Goodwill Industries of Southeastern Louisiana, $75,000 for Goodwill Re-Integration Program (GRIP): The GRIP program focuses on individuals exiting local correctional facilities by providing a holistic approach addressing the needs of its participants, including intense case management, supportive wrap-around services, mentoring, technical skills training, and job readiness training.

Louis A. Martinet Foundation, $75,000 for Re-Entry Court Services, Inc: RCS will provide court support services to the 19th Judicial District Court’s Re-Entry Court Program. Eligible offenders have the opportunity to receive two years of intense education and training while imprisoned at Louisiana State Penitentiary (Angola) or Louisiana Correctional Institute for Women. Offenders participate in intensive case management and supervised probation while transitioning back to their community.

Louisiana Public Health Institute, $25,000 for LA-PRI Data Development Project: A complement to the state’s Louisiana Prisoner Reentry Initiative, this project will help parishes start to perform case planning before release that is driven by individual prisoner risk and need assessments. This allows for mapping the needs of reentry populations onto the availability of support services.

LSU Foundation, $35,000 for LSU Law Parole and Reentry Clinic: The Clinic provides students with the opportunity, under professorial supervision, to prepare offenders for their appearance before the Louisiana Board of Pardons and Parole and develop successful reentry plans to reduce recidivism. The Clinic will also develop and prepare for publication standards of practice for parole and clemency representation.

Michigan Council on Crime and Delinquency, $25,000 for Louisiana Prisoner Reentry Initiative: The state’s Louisiana Prisoner Reentry Initiative is an evidence-based framework for sustainable system change through state-local partnerships with the goal of affecting every prisoner returning home. Reentry stakeholders will work together to reduce the statewide recidivism rate by 25 percent by 2022 and by 50 percent for higher risk returning citizens by 2028.

O’Brien House, $50,000 for Relapse Prevention for Successful Reentry: O’Brien House will expand and intensify its services for returning citizens by providing pre-release assessments to expedite referrals, providing a specialized counselor on the treatment team, expanding job readiness services and job counseling, and formalizing a post-discharge after-care program.

One Touch Ministry, $80,000 for Reentry Housing: One Touch Ministry provides housing opportunities for returning citizens at high-risk for recidivism. Program services include financial literacy, budgeting, linkage to care, transportation, housing-related educational programs, and other supportive services.

Refined By Fire Ministries, $135,000 for Reentry Benefiting Families: In this collaboration, Refined By Fire Ministries will be working closely with the Pointe Coupee Parish Detention Center, the Capital Area Regional Reentry Program, and the West Baton Rouge Parish Transitional Work Program. Efforts will focus on identifying individual needs of each participant to determine personalized case plans that include assessments, reentry life skills and education programs. Case managers will also provide referrals to community partners and monitor referrals to confirm releasing participants’ access to needed services.

Texas Public Policy Foundation, $40,000 for Right on Crime Louisiana: Reentry: Modeled after successful criminal justice reform in other states, Right on Crime Louisiana will provide the necessary support and information structure to secure policy-level changes to make practical, positive impacts on the lives of returning citizens, their families, their communities, and the state’s economy. This will be done through a collaborative model sharing best practices in criminal justice and reentry reform across the state at all levels of system involvement with reentry and reintegration.

Awana Clubs International, $40,000 for State Manager, Awana Lifeline Ministries: Awana operates programs in six Louisiana Department of Corrections prisons. It is focused on strengthening the bonds between incarcerated parents and their free children to stop the generational prison pipeline. This grant will partially fund the creation of a new state-level director to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of the programs and replicate the program at other sites.

Baton Rouge Community College Foundation, $70,000 for BRCC Corrections Technical Education Support: BRCC provides welding instruction at four Louisiana Department of Corrections facilities in the greater Baton Rouge area. This grant will provide partial funding for instructors for this high-wage, high-demand career, so returning citizens will have the skills needed to secure a job and provide for their families upon release.

Capital Area Human Services District, $80,000 for Behavioral Health Reentry Program: CAHSD has partnered with the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison to ensure those with mental illness and co-occurring substance abuse are identified and assessed upon entering the facility. Those at risk are paired with a peer mentor who assists with a treatment plan that is followed while incarcerated and at least six months post-release.

Capital Area Reentry Coalition, $250,000 for Building the Best: CAPARC provides coordination and outreach for all reentry service providers in the 10-parish region. This grant will provide funding to increase the number of partners and service providers, identify and disseminate best practices, and develop an advocacy plan on behalf of returning citizens.

Capital Area Reentry Program, $47,000 for Connecting to Success: This program supports hard-to-place returning citizens, partners CARP, and Turning Point Outreach Services to provide family reunification, employment, and rehabilitation services.

Church United for Community Development, $50,000 for Case Manager, Kingdom Men: Church United serves high-risk incarcerated and formerly incarcerated men from Ascension, East Baton Rouge, Iberville and Livingston parishes through sober living, housing, individual action plans, and transitional employment. The addition of another case manager will allow expansion of the program to serve more returning citizens and a broader geographic reach.

Connections for Life, $20,000 for Connect2Empower: Connections for Life provides female returning citizens with a peer mentor and intensive case management, focusing heavily on job readiness, employment identification, and placement.

Helping Educate to Advance the Rights of the Deaf, $30,000 for Mobilizing Resources for Deaf Offenders: This project will translate vital probation and parole rules and regulation materials into American Sign Language for use by deaf inmates and returning citizens. There are currently few accommodations made for this special-needs population.

Louis A. Martinet Foundation, $75,000 for 19th Judicial District Reentry Court: The 19th Judicial District Court’s Reentry Court Program has been in operation since 2014 under Judge Trudy M. White, providing eligible offenders with the opportunity to receive two years of intense education and training while imprisoned at Louisiana State Penitentiary (Angola) and case management for transitioning back to the community upon release. This grant will allow for the expansion of the program to more offenders and more support upon their release.

Louisiana Budget Project, $30,000 for Prison Dollars and Sense: The Prison Dollars and Sense project is a research initiative that aims to change the public conversation from “hard on crime” to “smart on crime,” ultimately shifting more dollars into proven rehabilitation programs that reduce recidivism without sacrificing public safety.

LSU Foundation, $40,000 for LSU Law Parole and Reentry: This project includes two components:  1) The Louisiana Law Review’s free continuing education symposium, Throw Away the Key: Criminal Sentencing Reform in the 21st Century and subsequent working group, and 2) LSU Law School’s Parole & Reentry Clinic, where students supervised by professors prepare offenders for their appearance before the Parole Board.

O’Brien House, $50,000 for Relapse Prevention for Successful Reentry: O’Brien House will expand and intensify its services for returning citizens by formalizing pre-release assessments to expedite referrals, enhancing treatments and formalizing a post-discharge aftercare program, in coordination with other partners who will provide follow-along support.

One Touch Ministry, $80,000 for Regional Offender Transitional Housing Program: One Touch Ministry will expand its current partnerships and educational classes to increase housing options and sustainability for returning citizens, as well as reduce the stigma associated with returning citizens.

Refined By Fire Ministries, $138,000 for Reentry Benefiting Families: In this collaboration, Refined By Fire Ministries will be working closely with the Pointe Coupee Detention Center, the Capital Area Regional Reentry Program and the West Baton Rouge Transitional Work Program to provide 60-90 day pre-release programming, including life skills, accredited education, and training programs.