NEW EX-OFFENDER REENTRY PROGRAMS FUNDED IN FIVE CITIES

WASHINGTON, D.C. - In cooperation with the Department of Justice’s Task Force for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives and the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), the Attorney General today announced grants to help five cities successfully reintegrate ex-offenders back into the community. Under the Department of Justice’s Value-Based Reentry Initiative (VBRI) grant program, COPS has awarded $1.3 million in grants to organizations in Boston, Detroit, Kansas City, Oakland, and Washington, D.C.

The funds will support demonstration projects in each of the five cities that received grants. The projects implemented by the grantees will serve as model programs that can be replicated in other communities throughout the country. The VBRI program provides resources that support partnerships between faith-based organizations, community groups, law enforcement agencies, and other criminal justice entities. These organizations will select and train mentor teams that will then assist returning offenders with finding services and resources such as job training, housing, and health care, as well as provide critical help in negotiating challenges associated with reentry.

“Today, the Department of Justice is taking an important step in fulfilling our commitment to President Bush’s Faith-Based and Community Initiative and to the vital role local groups play in strengthening public safety for all of our communities,” Attorney General John Ashcroft stated. “Faith-based and community groups are uniquely qualified partners for local law enforcement to reduce recidivism, make our neighborhoods safer, and change lives for the better. They are already doing this work, and doing it well.”

“These grants will help communities assist ex-offenders with their transition from being incarcerated to becoming law-abiding citizens,” said Carl R. Peed. “There are 2.1 million offenders in America’s prisons, and the overwhelming majority of them will return to their communities upon release. These grants will help build local capacity to receive ex-offenders, and ultimately the grants will help reduce recidivism and keep communities safe.”

Today’s Value Based Reentry Initiative grants are one of many programs administered by COPS to advance community policing. COPS supports innovative community policing initiatives, funds the purchase of crime fighting technology, provides training and technical assistance resources, and funds the hiring of local law enforcement officers. Since 1995, COPS has invested $10.6 billion in the advancement of community policing, including grants awarded to more than 13,000 state and local law enforcement agencies to hire over 118,000 officers.

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