Life Skills for State and Local Prisoners Program (84.255A)

## **FY 2003 Program Description and Abstracts**

**V255A030003**

**Oklahoma Department of Corrections**

Training and Supporting Ex-Offenders as Entrepreneurs

Project Director: Dr. Owen Modeland 405\*228\*2071

Funding Amount: \$379,179

This project aims to facilitate the successful re-entry of offenders
through a programmatic series of intensive life skills curricula,
entrepreneurial training and focused support. The program explores
self-employment as an option to seeking traditional employment for the
ex-offender. The rationale for the program is that a combination of
self-employment training as well as an intensive living skills education
program attained prior to release will help circumvent the obstacle of
typical employment and lower educational attainment many ex-offender
face upon release. Additionally, self-employment could yield higher
levels of income for the inmate, thus giving them an opportunity to make
a greater, positive impact on society. The project proposes to serve 105
inmates in year one, 165 inmates in year two, and 179 inmates in year
three.

**V255A030007**

**Santa Fe County Community and Health Department**

Home for Good

Project Director: Linda W. Dutcher 505\*992\*9852

Funding Amount: \$341,340

This project proposes a plan targeted at Santa Fe County Detention
Center inmates. The core of the program will be the Community
Reinforcement Approach (CRA), which is a motivational enhancement
intervention addressing the clients across multiple domains. Life skills
training as well as relapse prevention will be provided through the CRA
to inmates. This projects plans to serve 60 inmates in year 1 with a
five percent increase in participation subsequent years.

**V255A030010**

**San Diego County Sheriff's Department**

Family TIES for Inmates in San Diego County Jails

Project Director: Richard M. Conklin 619\*615\*2530

Funding Amount: \$458,513

This project proposes to collaborate with three community-based
organizations to provide targeted intervention, education, and services
(TIES) to inmates. The program includes a 52-week domestic violence
intervention session, anger management workshops, pre-employment skills,
parenting and healthy relationship training, and substance intervention
classes. An advisory group with representatives from the Department of
Child Support, Family Court Services, San Diego County Probation
Department, One-Stop Career Center, County of San Diego Health and Human
Services, and the Restorative Justice Mediation Program will meet
quarterly to address the needs of the participants. TIES expects to
serve approximately 1,00 inmates during the three-year grant period.

**V255A030045**

**San Francisco Sheriff's Department**

SISTER Life Skills Expansion Project

Project Director: Sunny Schwartz 415\*734\*2307

Funding Amount: \$391,898

This project proposes a program for women offenders in the county jails
that that fosters recovery and promotes behavioral change through case
management, relapse prevention, parenting classes, and parent-child
visitations. In addition participants will pursue academic advancement,
develop and build interpersonal skills, train in job readiness, and
participate in violence preventions services. The project plans to serve
56 women the first year increasing to 88 participants by year three.

**V255A030047**

**Suffolk County Sheriff's Department**

The Community Re-Entry for Women Program

Project Director: Mary Ellen Mastrorilli 617\*635\*1000

Funding Amount: \$335,684

This project requests funds to develop and implement a life skills and
job placement program for female offenders re-entering the community
from the Suffolk County House of Correction. Services will be provided
by House of Corrections staff; Project Place, a community, multi-service
center; and South End Community Health Center, a provider of health
care. Participants will receive life skills instructions that include
anger management, academic, vocational, and computer skills. The
Community Re-entry Program for Women (CREW) is comprised of three
phases: 1) triage of community success which provides assessment
services and develops a plane for services, 2) focused programming which
includes pre-release skills training and development, and 3) continued
programming which focuses on case management and support services.

**V255A030048**

**Shelby County Government**

Lifting Voices---A Residential Life Skills Program

Project Director: John Trusty 901\*387\*5977

Funding Amount: \$373,743

This program is a comprehensive life skills/ re-entry program that plans
to serve female prisoners at the Shelby County Division of Corrections
(SCDOC) in Memphis, TN. Participants with study survival life skills,
attend empowerment workshops, participate in group processed cognitive
behavioral modification sessions, be a part of a community literacy
initiative, and participate in a family reunification component which
includes visitation sessions with their children and structured
reconciliation counseling with their children's caregivers. SCDOC plans
to serve 225 participants over the three-year grant period.

**V255A030053**

**Colorado State Department of Corrections**

Colorado Life Skills for Prisoners Program

Project Director: Steven K. Chorak 719\*226\*4569

Funding Amount: \$297,115

This project proposes to develop and deliver a comprehensive, life
skills prerelease curriculum for it's participants that will be made
available to other correctional agencies and organizations. Proposed
activities included creating new assessment that will allow life skill
training and other services to better target those most in need of
services; developing life skills resource centers at four state
facilities that provide facilitated, self-directed activities for
offenders as well as resource materials for offenders and trainers; and
implementing new re-and post tests to measure changes in prisoner
knowledge and attitudes resulting from the new life skills training.
This project anticipates serving 750 inmates in year one, 900 inmates in
year two, and 1125 inmates in year three.

**V255A030076**

**Des Moines Area Community College**

Link to Success: Life Skills for Iowa Offenders

Project Director: Mary Chapman 515\*697\*7702

Funding Amount: \$ 467,972

The purpose of this project is to enhance the ability of offenders to
successfully reintegrate into the community by improving their life
skills, provide technical training for increased employment
opportunities, and ensure accountability through proven, innovative
practices. The project plans to develop, expand, and improve life skills
and occupational programs for offenders in three institutions in the
state of Iowa. Specifically, the program will assist inmates increase
their ability to solve problems at levels of proficiency necessary to
function on the job and in society, to achieve their goal, and to
develop their knowledge-base and potential. The program plans to serve
180 offenders per year.

**V255A030096**

**New Mexico Department of Corrections**

Project POWER

Project Director: Gail Oliver 505\*841\*4289

Funding Amount: \$481,259

Project POWER (Providing Opportunities to Women for Effective Reentry)
proposes to implement a comprehensive intake assessment and transition
planning program for female inmates most at risk of recidivating. The
program has three primary components: 1) the transition component which
will implement a systemic and philosophical change to transition
planning; 2) the programming component which will address life skills,
education, and family and parenting skills; and 3) the visitation
component which will strengthen family and child relationships by
developing child-friendly procedures. Project POWER plans to serve
250-300 participants a year.

**V255A030098**

**Lackawanna County Prison**

Stepping-Up Life Skills Program

Project Director: Tim Betti 570\*963\*6639

Funding Amount: \$322,739

This project proposes a collaborative effort between the Lackawanna
County Prison, a local, non-profit agency, the Equal Opportunity and
Training Center (EOTC), and partnering community-based providers to
strengthen and expand life skills, job readiness workshops, and
parenting workshops to prisoners. The program offers 10-12 week courses
that cover self-development; communication skills; job and financial
skills development, interpersonal and family relationship development;
stress/anger management; basic academic skills; and prerelease planning.
This project proposes to server approximately 500 inmates annually.

**V255A030099**

**Maine Department of Corrections**

Maine Street Transition Through Life Skills

Project Director: Ellis King 207\*287\*4342

Funding Amount: \$ 184.261

The Maine Street Transition through Life Skills (MST) proposes to assist
inmates in developing and following a comprehensive Life Skills
Individual Enhancement Plan through partnerships with four state
departments, public broadcasting systems, school systems, Workforce
Investment Act Career Center agencies, and stat correctional facilities.
The program will build capacity and infrastructure through training,
materials acquisition, systemic redesign, emotional intelligence
training, and integration into community-based, interdepartmental
transitional services. MST services will be available to approximately
500 participants.

**V255A030105**

**Vermont Department of Corrections**

An Integrated Approach to Life Skills Development and Offender
Employment

Project Director: Robert Lucenti 802\*241\*2273

Funding Amount: \$421,225

This proposal plans to integrate a newly developed Personal Development
and Habits of Mind curriculum into it life skills program. The program
is designed to address offender transition and re-entry issues and
assist with career planning and employment efforts. The program seeks to
decrease recidivism by twenty-five percent and increase offender success
as measured by stable employment, stable residence, support of
dependents, and volunteer service in the community. The educational
component of the project includes such lessons as persisting; managing
impulsivity; listening with understanding; taking responsibility;
questioning and posing problems; and thinking and communicating with
clarity and precision. The program plans to serve 84 male offender and
26 female offenders per year.

**V255A030119**

**Georgia Department of Corrections**

Cognitive Restructuring Program for Incarcerated Offenders

Project Director: Katrinka Glass 404\*463\*3779

Funding Amount: \$248,450

This project requests funds for one year that will be used to assist the
Georgia Department of Corrections in reaching its goal to build upon the
tremendous success of the transitional centers by adding cognitive
restructuring programming to increase positive outcomes. The proposal
hopes that these funds will make the transitional centers model sites.
The project plans to target inmates, who through assessment or criminal
histories, are considered high risk for re-offending and are released
through transition centers in any of six target areas.