Thu 3 Jan 2008
Last week I was inspired by a young man who spent 10 years in prison. He came out this past Dec. 15th at age 27.
In this short amount of time, he has been able to secure a job, an apartment, furniture, a vehicle for transportation and is just so focused and determined that it’s a joy to behold. He has determined to use all his experiences for good.
After meeting him for lunch, I came to my office and checked email and I had received the following letter:
Neighborhood Solutions, Inc.A 501— (C) – 3 Corporation
Dear Friend:
Neighborhood Solutions, Inc. has recently received a grant from the Cuyahoga County (OH) Department of Justice Affairs — a pass-through agency for U.S. Department of Justice funds — to compile and edit a textbook on prisoner reentry. We are proposing that the book be used in a pilot credit course at the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences at
My partner in the project, Dr. Kathleen Farkas of the Mandel School, and I have set a goal of establishing the subject of prisoner reentry as an area of specialized study for professionals in fields if criminology, penology and the social sciences. To assist us in achieving this goal others will have to develop similar textbooks on the subject.
The textbook we are planning will consist of 12 chapters, each written by an expert from a reentry domain; some of the authors will be from academia, others will be professionals from the fields of criminal justice, penology, mental health, etc. At the end of each chapter we are planning to include three short (approximately 1500 words) personal essays from formerly incarcerated persons that have real-life experiences with the chapter subject matter. In total the textbook will have 36 of these valuable personal insights.
We are currently in the process of identifying the individuals from around the country whose stories we wish to include. We will pay each selected individual a $250 stipend for their time, and will give them as much assistance as they need in writing their stories. We would only use first names and last initials. In many cases we expect that the individuals would prefer to just tell us their story via electronic recording and have us write it out for them to approve. If you are aware of any formerly incarcerated persons whose personal journey after prison might add value to the textbook please feel free to have them contact Neighborhood Solutions, Inc. or Kathy Farkas.
Cordially,
Executive Director
Neighborhood Solutions, Inc. 216.368.2276
How cool is that ? ! I can’t wait to share this with him….Oh and you may also know someone who would be interested in participating…
