DALLAS, Texas - U.S. Attorney John Parker announced today that Metroplex Economic Development Corporation, which provides mentoring and transitional services to incarcerated adults in Dallas, Texas, will receive $1,000,000 in grant funding as part of the federal government’s efforts to support safe and successful community reintegration of adults who have been incarcerated.
The grant, announced by Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch, is one of four million dollar grants awarded last week by the Justice Department’s Office of Justice Programs Bureau of Justice Assistance and funded under the 2016 Second Chance Act Comprehensive Community-Based Adult Reentry Program Utilizing Mentors Program.
“Criminal justice reform is impossible without intelligently and honestly addressing the multi-faceted challenges even the most well-intentioned and highly motivated inmates face upon re-entry," said U.S. Attorney John Parker. “This grant addresses one of the most pressing public safety issues we face in this country."
The Texas Offenders Reentry Initiative, “TORI," through the Metroplex Economic Development Corporation, is an intensive 12-month case management program that offers six core services: employment, housing, education, family reunification, health care and spiritual guidance. The program helps former inmates transition to life outside the penal system, dramatically increasing chances for success and reducing the likelihood of recidivism. TORI has served more than 10,000 formerly incarcerated individuals. The U.S. recidivism rate is 67 percent of former prisoners re-arrested and 52 percent re-incarcerated within three years of release. The TORI program’s recidivism rate is at a low nine percent.
The goal of the Comprehensive Community-Based Adult Reentry Program Utilizing Mentors Program is to identify needs of incarcerated individuals, including, housing, employment, substance abuse, and mental health by trained mentors and create a reentry plan.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
