FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ??????????? ??????????? ??????????? ??????????? ??????????? ??????????? ??????????? ??????????? OJP

Friday, February 1, 2002??????????????????????????????????????? 202/307-0703

 

 

FUNDING OPPORTUNITY ADVISORY

 

Funds Available for Offender Reentry Into Communities

 

 

Applications are now being accepted for grants up to $2 million each under the new Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative. A collaboration among the Departments of Education, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Justice and Labor, the initiative supports efforts to ensure public safety by helping returning offenders become productive members of their communities.? A total of at least $100 million will be available, with the goal of funding at least one site per state.? Additional sites will be funded based on available resources.? The application deadline is May 15, 2002.??

 

The Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative will help communities combine close supervision with services to help ex-offenders become law-abiding citizens, gain long-term employment and maintain a stable residence. The initiative targets communities with reentry efforts that involve public-private partnerships.? Funds will be used to address specific needs that cannot be met with existing federal, state and local resources.? Assistance will be provided in the application process to help potential grantees access these existing resources, which total in the hundreds of millions of dollars.?

 

Reentry efforts will involve close coordination among corrections staff, law enforcement, probation/parole officers, workforce investment boards and other community-based service providers.? Work will begin while offenders are still in correctional facilities, continue through offenders? transition back into the community, and help sustain ex-offenders through services such as job training and substance abuse treatment. Efforts will be tailored to any one, or combination of, the following age groups: Youth (ages 14 ‑ 17); Young Adult (ages 18 ‑ 24) and Adult (ages 25+).

 

To obtain a copy of the Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative Application Package, see the Reentry section of the Office of Justice Programs? (OJP) Website at www.ojp.usdoj.gov/reentry or contact the Department of Justice Response Center at?

1-800/421-6770.

 

Media and Congressional staff should contact the OJP Office of Congressional and Public Affairs at 202/307-0703.

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