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Compassion in Action ReportsPrisoner Reentry ServicesPreface In January 2007, the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives (OFBCI) launched a series of monthly Compassion in Action Roundtable meetings to highlight organizations, programs, and policies addressing critical social needs. The roundtables convene and facilitate discussion between policymakers, government officials, philanthropists, and faith-based and community service providers around targeted issues. The events reveal the President’s Faith-Based and Community Initiative as a broad-based, community-centered reform agenda; showcase innovative projects and promising practices; and draw attention to government efforts to expand and support the work of faith-based and community organizations actively engaged in serving their neighbors and communities. On March 22, 2007, OFBCI hosted its third Compassion in Action Roundtable, entitled Faith and Community-Based Partnerships to Improve Prisoner Reentry Services. The March 22 roundtable assembled leaders from various sectors working to reduce criminal recidivism and its impact on local communities. The event also featured final results from the Ready4Work program. Introduction Introduction: A Critical Need for Reentry Services
Each year more than 650,000 inmates are released from Federal and State prisons to be reunited with their communities and families. The return of these ex-prisoners threatens the fragile cohesion of many already-troubled neighborhoods. In fact, in the absence of intervention, a majority of ex-prisoners relapse back into criminal activity. According to the U.S. Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), two out of three returning inmates will be re-arrested for new crimes within three years of their release from prison and more than half will be re-incarcerated. Released prisoners face myriad challenges that contribute to their return to criminal activity, re-arrest and re-incarceration. Some of these challenges include joblessness, substance abuse, mental health problems, low levels of educational attainment, lack of stable housing and poor family connections. Joblessness among ex-prisoners has been linked to recidivism rates. Data from 1997 show that nearly one-third of adult prisoners were unemployed in the month prior to their arrest–compared with seven percent unemployment in the general population.1 Post-incarceration, employment rates plummet even further. Unemployment rates of ex-prisoners are estimated to be between 25 and 40 percent. Prisoners also demonstrate low levels of educational attainment—some 40 percent of adult state prisoners are functionally illiterate2 and more than half of state parole entrants have not graduated from high school.3 Conversely, research shows that ex-offenders who find stable employment and develop social bonds have significantly lower recidivism rates.4 The following are remarks from an event March 2007 that focused on the work of faith-based and community organizations to address this community need. Remarks by Jay Hein, Director, White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives Good morning. My name is Jay Hein and I serve as Director of the WHOFBCI. It is my pleasure to welcome you to today’s Compassion in Action Roundtable on Prisoner Reentry. This event is part of a monthly series whereby we are presenting the FBCI in the context of the President’s compassion agenda. Two months ago we inaugurated the series with a look at grassroots strategies to reduce youth violence and then last month we considered NGO strategies to reduce malaria in Africa. Today we take on one of the most difficult challenges facing US society. Approximately 2,000 former inmates leave prison gates every day and as we know, too many make a return trip back to incarceration. Of the one million adults otherwise residing in US jails, 8 in 10 will be released to parole and 15 percent may be headed to a homeless shelter. The cost associated with this phenomenon is incredible. Annual prison costs are somewhere in the $60 billion range and the low end estimate of housing a prisoner is $25,000 per year. None of these numbers are a surprise to the experts assembled in the room today but they cry out for a new and better response. Enter the hopefulness side of today’s gathering. The President has made prisoner Reentry one of our administration’s highest priorities and every governor across the union recognizes that they need to respond to this crisis. And this good news is made better because these public officials have ready and able partners among faith and other community groups. And these community leaders are already in action, as you will hear from the panel presentation later this morning. One leader who you won’t hear from in person, but who you will see in the video, is Julio Medina from New York City. The First Lady was privileged to have Julio joined her at the 2004 State of the Union Address and we’re honored to welcome him back to the White House today. I’m also honored to welcome each of you to the White House this morning. You are all seated next to some the smartest and most innovative prisoner Reentry leaders in the nation. Each seat in the room is occupied by a policymaker, grassroots nonprofit innovator, researcher or philanthropist who is contributing to a new understanding and an unprecedented response to the prisoner Reentry issue. Welcome. And now to begin our proceedings, it is my high honor to introduce two very distinguished members of the President’s cabinet. I’ll first introduce Director Portman and following his remarks, I’ll return to the podium to introduce the Secretary of Labor, Elaine Chao. The director of the Office of Management and Budget is one of the most important jobs in the United States Government. I make that claim not only because he holds the purse strings for all our offices—right, Madame Secretary?—but because the OMB director weighs in on strategy for every one of the President’s policy priorities. We are fortunate to have someone of Rob Portman’s character and compassion serving as our OMB director and those of us gathered today can be especially grateful that he brings an extra measure of interest to the issue that convenes us today. Most of you already know that as a member of the United States House of Representatives, Director Portman co-sponsored the Second Chance Act. But what you may not know is why he made Reentry a priority. Director Portman’s interest in this issue was originally sparked by his recognition that drug addition and the prison population had a clear connection. As chief sponsor of the Drug Free Communities Act of 1998, Director Portman was painfully aware of the societal and personal costs of substance abuse. But it was really his burden for the families that led him to craft Reentry solutions in the Second Chance Act. He was overwhelmed by the number of children of prisoners who were at risk for drug abuse, delinquency and their own path to incarceration and he knew we needed to act. Director Portman, we’re grateful that you did act—that you acted in such an impressive bipartisan manner—and that you continue to act as the President’s advisor on this important public policy issue. Please join me in welcoming Director Rob Portman to share a few words with us. Remarks by Director Rob Portman, Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Thanks, Jay, for your kind words. I was really excited when Jay asked me to be a part of today’s event. Helping prisoners constructively re-enter their communities reflects the President’s compassion. In his 2004 State of the Union, President Bush said, "America is the land of the second chance, and when the gates of the prison open, the path ahead should lead to a better life." And, when I served in Congress, it was one of the most important issues that I worked on. In fact, I authored the Second Chance Act of 2004, to build on the President’s initiative and help develop a bipartisan approach to this challenge—because with more than 650,000 people released from prison each year, Reentry affects each one of us. Reentry’s success or failure has implications for public safety, the welfare of children, family unification and community health. By doing a better job on offender Reentry, we can better prevent recidivism, crime and victimization, help keep communities safe and even save taxpayer money. This was a bipartisan issue I was proud to work on with Rep. Danny Davis and Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones. I am glad to report that my colleagues have continued this work and just this week have reintroduced The Second Chance Act and held a hearing on the bill. The purpose of The Second Chance Act was to help better coordinate federal agencies and policies in this effort. The initiative would expand the support to states and community organizations for Reentry planning and services. And, it’s working. Our communities and states have begun to address Reentry in innovative ways by establishing improved systems for reintegrating former prisoners. Under such systems, corrections officials begin to plan for a prisoner's release while the prisoner is incarcerated and provide a transition to needed services in the community upon release. Faith leaders and parishioners have a long and successful history helping ex-offenders transform their lives. Through prison ministries and outreach in communities, churches and faith-based organizations have pioneered Reentry services to prisoners and their families. We must continue to expand our support for community and faith-based organizations doing this important work. Successful Reentry also protects those who might otherwise be crime victims by reducing recidivism and helps us stop the revolving door effect in our prisons and jails that affects so many families and communities. Coordinated Reentry also improves the likelihood that individuals released from prison or juvenile detention facilities can pay fines, fees, restitution, and child support. By addressing the most basic needs of ex-offenders coming home, we can help reduce their chances of re-offending and improve the likelihood that they will be able to become productive, contributing members of their communities. At the Federal level, the Ready 4 Work pilot program and other initiatives the Department of Labor is leading are so important. And it’s an honor to be here with Secretary Chao and I know she will give you a complete update on these efforts to make sure that those who are coming home are given the most basic chance to start a new life and turn away from crime. Many people in this room are doing this essential work each and every day in our communities. You are on the front lines delivering the treatment, support and inspiration that change lives. Thank you for your continued support and efforts on this important issue. Jay Hein Introduction of Secretary Chao Thank you Director Portman. As I introduce Secretary Chao, I’d also like to recognize the other US Department of Labor officials who are present today. The Department of Labor has been a lead implementer of the President’s Faith-Based and Community Initiative. Credit for this belongs chiefly at the top because Secretary Chao has been pitch perfect in her message that FBCOs extend Labor’s mission to equip today’s and tomorrow’s workforce. Today’s event is an illustration of that point, of course and so I’d also like to recognize Mason Bishop, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Employment and Training Administration for his role in helping to administer Ready4Work. Well, we’ve already acknowledged that prisoner Reentry is a top priority for the President. But one of the most important decisions the President needed to make is who would take concept and priorities and turn it into action. And so he called on the 24th Secretary of Labor, Elaine Chao. Secretary Chao is the 24th Secretary of the Labor Department and the first Asian American woman in US history to serve in a President’s cabinet. Her background is relevant to her own life’s labors. Arriving in this country as an 8 year old who did not speak English, the Secretary’s transition to a new country and to a new culture inspired her to dedicate her future career to ensuring that others have access to opportunity and the chance to build better lives. Please join me in welcoming U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao. Remarks by Secretary Chao, U.S. Department of Labor Thank you, Jay [Jay Hein, Director of the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives]. And I want to thank you and your Office for all the assistance you have given to the Department of Labor. Before I begin, let me recognize all of you in the audience for your hard work and dedication in reaching out to those most in need. You are putting into action the President’s vision to give those who have paid their debt to society a second chance. I think we all agree that the best strategy to reach those in need is to enlist every willing partner. When community and faith-based groups are permitted to partner with the government, our country and our communities benefit. As a result of the Faith-Based and Community Initiative, hundreds of dedicated organizations have stepped forward to work side-by-side with the Department of Labor to help the unemployed, the underemployed, and the never employed. In the past, many of these organizations worked in total isolation from government, even when working toward similar goals. Today, government is working with faith based and community organizations toward shared goals. And again and again, it is making a difference. Community and faith-based groups possess unique and invaluable strengths. To exclude them from partnerships short-changes both our country and the people who most need our help. And often, it is the personal concern and caring touch that make the critical difference for those who are at risk. The father who’s lost his job and his hope, the ex-offender wanting a fresh start, the struggling single mom. Mr. Davie [Fred Davie, President of Public/Private Ventures], it is good to see you again. The Department of Labor awarded his organization a $10 million grant in July of 2004 in Jacksonville to help ex-offenders successfully re-enter society. The grant was part of a 3-year, $25 million pilot program launched by President Bush called Ready4Work. After serving former offenders for three years, the results have been very encouraging. I know Mr. Davie will share with us some of the highlights of this program shortly. Eleven sites were chosen to participate in the Ready4Work program and provide services to adult ex-offenders. Ready4Work was designed to leverage the trust and leadership of faith based and community organizations to help ex-offenders build new lives. The program offers job training, job placement, mentoring and other services to help these men and women transition successfully back into their communities. With 650,000 offenders released every year, helping this population is a major challenge for our society. Ready4Work helps ex-offenders access stable employment and develop strong social bonds, so they can access hope and opportunity. The results show tremendous promise. Over the three year life of the Ready4Work project, a total of 4,482 ex-offenders enrolled. Ready4Work participants have a 45 percent lower rate of recidivism after six months than Justice Department benchmarks, and a 30 percent lower rate after one year. That’s a tremendous achievement. So much remains to be done. But these results give us hope that, with the proper help, those most at risk in our society can turn their lives around. Let me mention how the Ready4Work program helped one participant turn his life around. By the age of twenty-eight, James already had a ten-year criminal history. After his release from prison in July of 2004, he enrolled in Operation New Hope’s Ready4Work program in Jacksonville, Florida. He participated in the two-week Career Development class. Shortly thereafter, he got his first job as a stockman at a local grocery chain. Although he’d completed his coursework, James continued to attend Ready4Work classes on his days off so that he could stay focused on positive decisions and improve his career opportunities. Soon, James was on his way to full-time work in construction as an apprentice pipe-fitter. Today, he has been employed for more than two and a half years and is earning $11.25 per hour. He also has worked hard to repair his credit. And just last week he was approved to purchase a new home. He attributes his success in turning his life around to the encouragement and support he received from the Ready4Work program. He continues to be involved by visiting Operation New Hope and sharing his success in the Ready4Work program with others. Let me also mention the Prisoner Reentry Initiative, which is another four-year employment program led by the Labor Department. President Bush announced this program in his 2004 State of the Union address—building on the strong foundation laid by the Ready4Work program. It serves more than 6,000 ex-prisoners every year. The program provides them with a positive, productive link into the communities to which they are returning. Following a large competition, the Department awarded 30 grants in November, 2005 to faith-based and community organizations across the country. These organizations began operations in spring of 2006 and as of March 16, 2007, 6,046 men and women have enrolled in the program. So far, 3,086 have been placed into jobs. And make no mistake about it—these workers are needed! Our economy is creating jobs faster than we can measure them. More than 7.6 million net jobs have been created since August 2003. And our nation’s unemployment rate is a low 4.5 percent—lower than the average of the 1990s. So there are opportunities for every willing worker that we can reach and train. So thank you for everything you are doing to bring hope and opportunity to those who need us most. Working together, we can continue to ensure that everyone in our society has a second chance, and the tools they need to build lives of independence and dignity.Our keynote speaker this morning is Fred Davie, President of Public/Private Ventures [PPV], a Philadelphia based research and demonstration organization that was responsible for implementing the Ready4Work project you just heard about on the video. I have a lot of nice things to say about Fred, and I am planning to say them a little later. I’d like to preface my comments about his leadership with a few thoughts on where this project originated. Ready4Work grew out of a single conversation I had in February 2002 with a very young job developer doing Reentry work in Chicago. I had come to visit her fully armed with all the resources that were currently available at the U.S. Department of Labor where I worked as the Director of the Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. Our conversation drifted into the government incentives for employers who hire people with criminal records. I suggested the Federal Bonding Program which provides low-cost insurance for employers who are willing to hire ex-offenders. She scoffed at the bonds, calling them a scarlet letter that says to employers, “If you want to hire me, you need special insurance.” This, she pointed out, wasn’t much of an employment interview strategy. Twenty years her senior, I was playing the role of the earnest government do-gooder; she was the seasoned realist. I decided it was time to rethink the problem and its potential solutions. Over the next few months, our office spent some time talking with employers in three cities. Their advice to us boiled down to this: ex-offenders are a liability issue; if they commit a crime on the job, a business-closing lawsuit could result. Our task was to reduce both the actual threat of such on-the-job crimes and, perhaps more importantly, the fear of such crimes which was freezing motivated people out of the job market. It seemed to me that if ex-offenders could establish and demonstrate accountable, supportive relationships with faith-based and community groups we could lower the fear-factor business owners feel about hiring ex-felons and reduce the chance of ex-offenders going back to jail. By chance, Fred Davie and his team at PPV were working along similar lines to develop a new project on prisoner Reentry. They took this kernel of an idea—faith-based and community partnerships to increase employment and reduce recidivism among ex-offenders—and grew it into a full-scale demonstration project that has served 4,500 men and women over the past three years. Fred brought to that task exactly the kind of background we needed. He has a distinguished personal and academic background which you can read about in the full bio provided in your program. I want to focus on what made Fred the ideal candidate to lead Ready4Work and to assist in the larger Prison Reentry Initiative that is currently underway. While at the Ford Foundation, Fred developed a nationally recognized juvenile violence reduction program. When he joined PPV in 2001, he was asked to assume leadership of PPV’s National Faith-Based Initiative for High-Risk Youth, a 12-site demonstration involving collaborations by faith-based group and justice and law enforcement organizations. From 2003 to 2006 he led Ready4Work, the 11-site demonstration on how faith-based and community groups can assist ex-offenders in finding and retaining employment. You will discern a pattern here: this is a man who knows how to organize, implement and oversee a national demonstration program and who understands the unique assets and capacities of faith and community-based groups. We’ve benefited tremendously from his management experience and from his deep appreciation for the role of small faith-based and community groups in tackling tough problems. There’s another aspect of Fred that might not be apparent from a resume that includes pastoral work and a degree in divinity: his compassion is of an entirely hard-headed variety. He’s deeply moved by the problems of the poor – but he’s also committed to following the data. He understands the complexities of poverty – but he also knows well-intentioned programs can degenerate into excuse factories where dysfunction is ignored, denied or explained away. Rather than surrendering to these complexities, Fred has insisted on solutions – from himself, his team and the people served through the programs he oversees. The results of this hard-headed compassion are telling: he has taken a problem widely believed to be insoluble—criminal recidivism—and created a response that very much appears to have worked. Remarks by Fred Davie, President, Public/Private Ventures As we meet here today, in this beautiful and historic setting, it can be hard to remember that only a few miles from here, at 1901 D Street S.E., there are hundreds of people sitting in cells in the DC city jail, some serving sentences, some awaiting trial or transfer. They are positioned to join the 2.2 million Americans who are now behind bars—a group that is disproportionately male (although the number of women in prison is rising), disproportionately minority, disproportionately undereducated and—perhaps most striking—disproportionately from this nation’s poorest neighborhoods. Some 650,000 adult prisoners are released every year. Nearly two thirds are rearrested, and half are back behind bars by the third year of their release. In a time of yawing budget deficits, American tax payers spend $60 billion a year on prisons and jails. And this means that hundreds of thousands of lives are going to waste every year. But there is hope. Across the country, community and faith-based organizations, local businesses, criminal justice agencies, and public officials are working together to solve the prisoner reentry crisis. I’m here today to discuss findings from Ready4Work, a three-year national demonstration that concluded last September. Ready4Work programs were implemented in 11 adult sites, and later in 7 juvenile sites. Findings from the initiative are preliminary but extremely promising, giving hope for the millions of Americans churning in and out of our nation’s jails and prisons. Over the past four years, Public/Private Ventures has worked closely with diverse players—the Department of Labor, practitioners and scholars in prisoner reentry, and program staff of prominent philanthropies—to design and test a set of interventions in the lives of returning prisoners. We wanted to see whether a partnership of government, business, faith-based and community organizations providing jobs, mentoring and wraparound supportive services to returning prisoners might reduce the likelihood of their reincarceration and increase their chances for successful reintegration into their families and communities. I must admit I did not really understand America’s prisoner problem until I was invited, as a Program Officer at the Ford Foundation, behind the walls of Sing Sing Prison in New York, where I met a man named Robert Sanchez. That was 1999, and Robert was 30 years old. At 19, he’d been arrested in a raid on a crack house, where he’d been looking to make quick money. Given a sentence of 15 years to life, he had served eleven years when I met him. He asked me to stay in touch, and I decided to learn more about the plight of men and women returning from prison. So I read the bleak statistics. And two years later when Robert was let out as part of a work release program, I couldn’t help but fear that he would be headed back inside. But then Robert introduced me to Julio Medina. Julio had been incarcerated too, a former and major entrepreneur in illegal drugs in East Harlem. When he was released after 12 years in prison, Julio committed himself to becoming a different kind of entrepreneur. He created Exodus Transitional Community, a program in East Harlem, where he had plied his drug trade, and dedicated himself to breaking the cycle of incarceration. The staff that Julio built at Exodus knows firsthand what it’s like to go to jail. They’re former prisoners who’ve walked many miles in their clients’ shoes. Now I have to say, as one who was very new to this world, I had more than a healthy degree of skepticism. But I was moved by Julio and Robert’s passion and the potential of a program like Exodus to stem the awful churning in and out of prisons. I promised Robert and Julio, as I moved from the Ford Foundation to Public/Private Ventures, that we would find a way to apply the lessons they had learned to other cities and states. We would find a way to support programs that blend hardscrabble experience with the hope for a better life to produce real change in the lives of ex-prisoners. And that really is what the Ready4Work program is all about. It took a while to get Ready4Work up and running. At P/PV, our mission is to identify and develop promising approaches to tough social problems, and then to rigorously test these approaches to determine if they are effective. In carrying out our mission, we work with foundations, the public and business sectors, and nonprofit organizations. And so it was with Ready4Work. We collaborated with staff at the Department of Labor’s Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, led by Brent Orrell, and we drew on the ideas of scholars and policymakers. But our touchstone was always the experience of people who had been in the trenches—organizations like Operation New Hope in Jacksonville, FL, and East of the River Clergy-Police-Community Partnership here in Washington, DC, people like Rev. Sam Atchison, the chaplain at New Jersey State prison in Trenton, and Yolanda McFaddon, director of the Second Chance Program run by the Mayor’s office in Memphis, TN. And a great many others, some of whom are here today. They were people of faith and secular specialists. They were Democrats, and Republicans, conservatives, liberals and moderates. A variety of stakeholders invested their resources in Ready4Work: the Departments of Labor and Justice, the Ford Foundation and the Annie E. Casey Foundation. President Bush raised the issue to a new level when he invited Julio Medina to the state of the union address in January 2004 and asked Congress to support reentry programs. All of those involved agreed that the two pillars of the Ready4Work program had to be hope for a better life for ex-prisoners, and a real-world understanding of what it takes to get there. So we started with what experts have known for a long time: ex-prisoners who do manage to find steady jobs and connect with their communities have a much better chance of staying out of jail. Thus, we made jobs and connections an essential part of Ready4Work. But how to foster these attachments? In developing the program, we applied lessons P/PV had learned through testing interventions for other high-risk populations. And we drew on lessons learned in Harlem from Julio Medina, in Trenton from Sam Atchison, in Anacostia from Rev. Donald Isaac of the East of the River Clergy-Police-Community Partnership and in Florida from Kevin Gay of Operation New Hope, and from so many others who had spent years honing strategies to help ex-prisoners. The lessons had to do with the intense work that it takes to prepare ex-prisoners for the labor market, the necessity of treating employers as true partners in that work, the importance of providing wraparound services to meet ex-prisoners’ many needs and the centrality of supportive relationships—which are crucial for anyone trying to right his or her life. Ready4Work launched in 2003 in 11 cities around the country. In each place, lead agencies built partnerships among local faith, justice, business and social service organizations. The lead agencies included faith-based organizations, secular nonprofits, a for-profit, and a mayor’s office. Every program provided employment-readiness training, job placement and intensive case management, including referrals for housing, health care, drug treatment and other programs. And to address the need for supportive relationships, the sites worked hard to develop mentoring programs for ex-prisoners—which was relatively uncharted territory. The local sites had tough targets—those who are most likely to go back to prison: 18- to 34-yearold, nonviolent, non-sexual-felony offenders. Across the country, the 4,500 ex-prisoners who participated in Ready4Work were predominately black men; they had an average age of 26. Half had been arrested five or more times, and a majority had spent more than two years in prison. Despite the challenges the ex-prisoners brought to the table, the sites demonstrated remarkable progress in each of the major program areas. First, on Employment: With employment rates for ex-prisoners at dismally low levels, the Ready4Work sites knew their participants faced serious barriers. They provided intensive job-readiness training and ongoing support, through the job search process and beyond. They also nurtured relationships with employers, identifying job opportunities and following up after participants were placed—to help insure a successful match. Their efforts paid off. Almost 60 percent of Ready4Work participants got a job, and nearly two thirds of them remained employed for at least three consecutive months. A third managed to remain employed for six consecutive months. These accomplishments are impressive, given the many barriers these ex-prisoners face in returning to the labor market. The sites also developed strong Mentoring programs: Mentors helped by providing two kinds of support that everyone needs, support that most middle class Americans take for granted, and support that ex-prisoners often lack. First, they provided emotional support. Reentry can be a time filled with so much fear, anger, isolation, confusion and sadness, it can send people spiraling back down—unless someone is there for them. Mentors also provided returnees with practical support to meet the dozens of everyday challenges that years in prison can make so daunting: finding a place to live, getting a driver’s license, figuring out how to commute to work. One young man participating in group mentoring had this to say about the experience, “They keep my mind on the right track and keep me thinking positive. If I’m feeling depressed, they would give you words of encouragement to keep you from doing stuff that you really don’t want to do.” Local sites recruited a committed set of volunteer mentors. Mentors ranged in age from 18 to 80, most were male, and more than 85 percent of mentors were African American. That fact bears repeating: 85 percent of the Ready4Work mentors were African American. Traditional mentoring programs have often found it difficult to recruit a diverse body of volunteers. This effective involvement of African American mentors is a tribute to the pastors of the many African American congregations who got involved in Ready4Work and from their pulpits called parishioners into action. Parishioners who answered the call and became mentors went through extensive training and preparation. Mentors and their sponsoring organizations were well versed in prohibitions against proselytizing and the requirement to offer services to all, irrespective of religion, in keeping with government regulations prohibiting discrimination in service delivery. Our research shows faith as a motivator but rarely a means for mentoring men and women returning from prison. Finally, in the area of Supportive Services: Case management, provided by each of the lead organizations, was in many ways the glue that held the other program components together. Case managers provided participants with a range of direct and referral services to address critical needs, whether it was navigating child support and custody issues, helping ex-prisoners obtain government identification necessary for work or connecting them to drug rehabilitation or other health services. Case managers also worked to support the employment and mentoring components of the program, helping ensure that they ran smoothly. So, three years into the Ready4Work demonstration, what have we learned? First, former prisoners will work and business will employ them. There are 800 small and mid-size business leaders across the country who put these men and women to work, who took a risk to give them a job. Many of those businesses were concerned about the appearance of hiring ex-prisoners. What would customers think? But, in the end, they reported that Ready4Work participants were not that much different from the labor pool they typically employ. The added value of a program like Ready4Work is that it brings a community of support with the employee and the imprimatur of a local faith or community organization to vouch for and support the new hire. Small and mid-size businesses were the backbone to the employment success of this program. The second lesson, a hugely important lesson, is the power of mentoring. Because about half of Ready4Work participants received mentoring, we were able to compare the experiences and outcomes of participants who were mentored with those who were not mentored. You’ll read the details in the materials we’ve released today, but several findings stand out and bear highlighting here. Ready4Work participants who met with a mentor:
And this is not surprising: One of the key findings from P/PV’s work over the course of 30 years, studying various kinds of social programs, is that a strong relationship with a supportive, responsible adult improves the life chances of people in high-risk circumstances. The third lesson from Ready4Work is that there is hope to break the devastating recidivism cycle. Now, it’s important to remember that our research on Ready4Work is early-stage research. We don’t have a random-assignment evaluation, which could definitively show whether or not the program caused the positive outcomes that we observed. But, even given the preliminary nature of the research, the findings on recidivism are extremely encouraging. Based on our latest analysis, which includes incarceration records from all 11 adult Ready4Work sites, we found recidivism rates that are at least one third below the national average. Just 2.5 percent of Ready4Work participants returned to state prison within six months of their release, compared with 5 percent nationally; and only 6.9 percent did so within one year, compared with 10.4 percent nationally. When we looked specifically at African American nonviolent felons, ages 18-34, who represent the bulk of Ready4Work participants, just 2.9 percent return to state prison within six months, compared to 5.6 percent nationally. Only 7.6 percent return to state prison within one year, compared to 13.3 percent nationally. Keep in mind that behind each of those statistics is a human being who turned his life around, who is on the path from despair to hope, and who is helping his community instead of dragging it down—people like Greg Negroni, a young man who is profiled in Hard Road Home, a new documentary about the Ready4Work site in East Harlem, Julio Medina’s Exodus Transitional Community. Greg Negoroni was first incarcerated as a juvenile, then returned for a two-year stint in an adult facility. At 21, he came to Julio Medina’s program, a veteran of the prison system in New York state. He was in some ways typical: a flawed kid who had made some serious mistakes, but who showed intelligence, humor, warmth and tremendous potential. Last week, Greg got on a plane for the first time and joined Julio and the award-winning director, Macky Alston, for the film’s premier in Austin, Texas. He stood in front of a nearly full 1200- seat theater and talked about his experiences in the Ready4Work program. “It helped me a lot,” he said. “I’m still getting services from Exodus so I can improve my skills and get a better job.” Greg is working, and looking ahead to new opportunities. A year after he came to Ready4Work, Greg is a new kind of role model for his younger sister and two younger brothers. These changes, these lives lifted upward are exciting. It is also exciting that Ready4Work is part of an expanding mosaic of programs that is helping ex-prisoners. Yet clearly we have a long way to go. The fact is that the odds are still stacked heavily against those in the DC jail not far from here and the 650,000 ex-prisoners who return to society every year. Ready4Work about cost about $4,500 per participant, per year—a whole lot less than the $25,000 to $40,000 it costs to keep someone in a federal prison for a year. Ready4Work and other programs demonstrate that investing in young ex-prisoners yields huge dividends, for the people trying to put their lives together, for their communities, and for the nation. But that good work could wind up as a footnote to history, and we might never reap those dividends. All of us—the faith community, secular organizations, nonprofits and businesses, red states, blue states—must work together on job training and placement, social services and mentoring. That’s the best way to increase the odds of turning despair into hope and failure into success. Improving Prisoner Reentry Services through Faith and Community-Based Partnerships Faith-based and community organizations (FBCOs) are among the most trusted and influential institutions in the urban neighborhoods to which the majority of released inmates will return. Local FBCOs have many resources to draw from when working with ex-offenders, including buildings, volunteers, and a tradition of outreach and service. The President’s Faith-Based and Community Initiative has implemented two innovative Reentry programs—the Prisoner Reentry Initiative and Ready4Work—that leverage the unique strengths of FBCOs. These programs rely on faith-based and community partners to deliver a wide range of social services to ex-prisoners, providing direct links into the communities to which these men and women are returning. In 2003, the President’s Faith-Based and Community Initiative launched Ready4Work, a three-year pilot program utilizing FBCOs to address the needs of ex-prisoners. This $25 million program was jointly funded by the U.S. Department of Labor, the U.S. Department of Justice, Public/Private Ventures—a Philadelphia-based research and demonstration non-profit—and a consortium of private foundations. Ready4Workplaced faith-based and community organizations at the center of social service delivery to ex-offenders. It emphasized employment-focused programs that incorporate mentoring, job training, job placement, case management, and other comprehensive transitional services. The following organizations were chosen to provide services to adult ex-offenders in 11 cities:
Participants. Participant eligibility for Ready4Workwas determined based on three factors: (1) age of the ex-offender; (2) presenting offense; and (3) length of time pre- or post-release. Ex-prisoners between the ages of 18 and 34 who had most recently been incarcerated for a nonviolent felony offense and were no more than 90 days pre or post-release were eligible to enroll in the program. Once individuals entered the program, they were eligible for up to one year’s worth of services. The typical program trajectory began with a week or two of training in “soft skills” such as résumé writing and workplace etiquette to prepare participants for their job search. Participants were also matched with mentors in one-to-one and/or group mentoring relationships. Upon completion of their initial employment training, most participants began searching for work, though some continued with more advanced training related to specific industries. Case managers and job placement specialists helped participants find jobs and supported them while they were working. Participant Demographics. African American males constituted the majority of Ready4Workenrollees. The general returning ex-offender population is approximately 90 percent male.5 Rates of enrollment for males in Ready4Work tracked that figure closely, constituting 81 percent of the program’s participants. Seventy-eight percent of Ready4Work participants were African American, eight percent were White non-Hispanic and five percent were Hispanic. The average age of a Ready4Work participant was 26 years old—eight years younger than the average for ex-offenders released from prison.6 In sum, the program served a predominantly male population that was on average younger, more heavily minority than the overall population of those returning from prison, and made up exclusively of individuals with non-violent presenting offenses. Table 1: Comparison of Persons Entering Parole in 1999 with R4W Participants
Education and Work History. Two of the most significant challenges faced by ex-prisoners are lack of education and the absence of meaningful work history. At enrollment, 39 percent of Ready4Work participants had not finished high school or obtained their GEDs. More than half had held a full-time job for one year or longer prior to entering prison, 31 percent had held a full-time job for less than one year and approximately 16 percent had never held a full-time job. Criminal History. Ready4Work targeted individuals returning from prison with a high probability of recidivating for enrollment. Ex-prisoners with extensive criminal backgrounds—those most likely to return to prison—participated in the program. Half of Ready4Work participants had been arrested five or more times. Less than 10 percent had been arrested only once (see Table 2). More than 55 percent had most recently been incarcerated for a drug or property offense. As a result of these criminal records, the majority of participants had spent more than two years in prison, and almost 25 percent had spent five or more years behind bars. Participants averaged 17 years of age at the time of their first arrest. Table 2: Criminal History of Ready4Work Participants
Results. The Ready4Work pilot program formally ended August 31, 2006. The data collected from the program, which were found reliable by an independent third party, indicate promising results. A total of 4,482 formerly incarcerated individuals enrolled in Ready4Work. Of these participants, 97 percent received comprehensive case management services, 86 percent received employment services and 63 percent received mentoring services. Ready4Work sites placed 2,543 participants (57 percent) into jobs, with 63 percent of those placed retaining their job for three consecutive months after placement. On average, program costs were approximately $4,500 per participant, compared with average costs of $25,000 to $40,000 per year for incarceration. Recidivism. Recidivism is defined in Ready4Work as returning to an in-state prison as a result of a conviction for a new offense. This is a common measure used by other studies and programs assessing recidivism rates. This definition excludes those returning to prison for violating their probation or parole conditions, as well as those incarcerated in local jails. Data analysis on Ready4Work prepared by Public/Private Ventures shows that only 2.5 percent of Ready4Work participants have been re-incarcerated in state institutions within six months of release, and 6.9 percent were reincarcerated at the one-year post-release mark. Though these statistics are promising, it is important to note that a random-assignment study has not been performed, so no strict control group existed for the sake of comparison. The recidivism outcomes from Ready4Work were compared against the universally accepted recidivism benchmarks from the Bureau of Justice Statistics’ (BJS) re-incarceration study, “Recidivism of Prisoners Released in 1994.”7 Ready4Work recidivism rates are 50 percent lower than the national reincarceration rate at six months and 44 percent lower than the national rate of reincarceration one year after release. Ready4Work recidivism statistics are of particular significance given the fact that the program’s population was at a statistically higher risk of recidivating than the general ex-prisoner population represented by the BJS statistic, due largely to age, race, and type of offense. When compared against a subset of the 1994 BJS study that includes only African American male inmates between the ages of 18 and 34 released after serving time for nonviolent offenses, the 2.5 percent recidivism rate for Ready4Work participants at six months is 58 percent lower than the BJS benchmark figure. The 6.9 percent Ready4Work recidivism rate at the one-year post-release mark was 52 percent lower than the BJS subset at the one-year post-release mark. Mentoring as a Component of Ready4Work. Over 60 percent of Ready4Work participants received mentoring as part of their services. Participants who met with a mentor at least once showed stronger outcomes than those who did not participate in mentoring:
A complete analysis of mentoring outcomes can be found in Mentoring Ex-Prisoners in the Ready4Work Reentry Initiative, available online at www.ppv.org. The President’s Prisoner Reentry Initiative ePresident Bush announced his Prisoner Reentry Initiative (PRI) in the 2004 State of the Union address. Expanding on the elements of Ready4Work, PRI assists returning offenders by linking them to faith-based and community institutions that help them find work and avoid a relapse into a life of criminal activity. This four-year program provides services to 6,250 ex-prisoners annually. The development of the program was a collaborative process that brought together a team of Federal and private-sector partners designed to ensure ex-offenders have access to those services necessary to successfully integrate into their communities through employment. In November 2005, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) awarded PRI grants to 30 faith-based and community organizations in urban areas across the country. Each site is working to reduce recidivism by helping returning nonviolent prisoners through an employment-centered program that incorporates mentoring, job placement, job training, and other holistic transitional services. Working in collaboration with DOL, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) also awarded funds under PRI beginning in September 2006 to State Departments of Corrections and State Criminal Justice Administering Agencies to provide pre-release services to prisoners who would be served by the DOL grantees following incarceration. Grant Locations. The 30 DOL grants awarded under the PRI grant competition are designed to serve urban centers and areas of high need (see PRI Grantee Site Map).
Participants. To be eligible to participate in PRI, an ex-offender must be 18 years of age or older and have a nonviolent or non-sex-related presenting offense. Participants should be enrolled in the program within 180 days after their release from prison or a halfway house. Up to 10 percent of individuals served can be enrolled more than 180 days from their prison release date. Early Results. PRI sites began serving program participants in the spring of 2006 and early results are promising. As of March 16, 2007, 6,046 PRI participants have been enrolled in the program and 3,086 participants have been placed into jobs.Other Government and Community Efforts to Reduce Recidivism U.S. Department of Justice Anti-Gang Initiative The U.S. Department of Justice’s anti-gang initiative provides pre- and post-release services and supervision for gang members returning to their communities after a period of incarceration in State, local or other correctional facilities. The program advances the President’s vision for expanded choice by offering ex-offenders the option of selecting from many faith-based and community providers. Faith-based and community organizations partner with criminal justice, law enforcement, treatment, and other service agencies to provide vouchers for offenders to obtain treatment and services in their communities. Probation/parole officers, working closely with law enforcement agencies, prosecutors, treatment and service providers, FBCOs, mentors and others within the community provide intensive supervision of the ex-offenders. Six sites were awarded Anti-Gang Initiative grants during the fall of 2006: Cleveland, Ohio; Dallas/Ft. Worth, Texas; East Los Angeles, California; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Tampa, Florida; and the “222 Corridor” between Lancaster and Easton, Pennsylvania. Each site is using the funding to target 100 gang members who have a history of violence and could pose a risk to their communities. Participants must be enrolled within six months of release from incarceration. Services provided through the program include mentoring, risk/needs assessment, treatment services—including substance abuse, mental health, and anger management—cognitive restructuring, motivational interviewing, socialization skill development, and domestic violence rehabilitation. Program services offered to participants include job skills development, education, employment, housing, language skills, and child care resources. Department of Labor At-Risk and Adjudicated Youth Grant Latino Coalition. In 2004, DOL awarded a three-year, $10 million grant to The Latino Coalition for Faith & Community Initiatives to help 1,200 Latino at-risk and adjudicated youth. The Reclamando Nuestro Futuro (RNF) project provides capacity building and support to 22 sub-grantees in 6 cities (Dallas, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Phoenix and San Diego) that provide direct services in skills training, community service, subsidized and unsubsidized work experience and internships, job preparation, college preparation, GED preparation, basic and remedial education, language proficiency, substance abuse services and mentoring. According to results reported by the Latino Coalition, the service efforts and capacity building activities of the RNF project have produced the following results:
Sub-grantees have focused on targeting Latino youth, as 82% of project participants are Hispanic. Through the RNF project, 17.8% of participants have recidivated over a two-and-a-half year period. Recidivism is defined here as either revocation of probation or parole resulting in incarceration or conviction of a crime committed after entering the project. Improving Prisoner Reentry Services Through Faith and Community-Based Partnerships March 22, 2007 10:00am – 10:10am Welcome and Introduction 10:10am – 10:20am The Need for Prisoner Reentry Strategies 10:20am – 10:30am Remarks on Ready4Work and the President’s Prisoner Reentry Initiative 10:30am – 10:40am Beyond the Wall Video Presentation 10:40am – 10:50am Introduction of Keynote Speaker 10:50am – 11:10am Mentoring, Employment and Recidivism: Results from Ready4Work 11:10am – 11:55am Panel: Building Effective Mentoring Programs for Adult Ex-Offenders Panelist: Yalanda L. McFadgon, Executive Director Panelist: Kathy Lambert, Executive Director Panelist: Douglas Burris, Chief U.S. Probation Officer 11:55am Closing Remarks Douglas Burris Douglas Burris is the for the Eastern District of Missouri U.S. Probation Office, a position he has held for six years. His duties include the oversight of a district that supervises 1,900 federal offenders and conducts more than 1,000 Court-ordered investigations annually. Despite having one of the most challenging caseloads in the Federal system, he has been successful at instituting many innovative programs to significantly lowered recidivism in Eastern Missouri. Burris is responsible for his district's concentration on engaging faith and community-based organizations in offender employment and Reentry programs and some of his most successful strategies have been replicated throughout the country. His focus on employment services for ex-offenders on supervision has resulted in a decline in unemployment rates for this subgroup by more than two-thirds, to a lower rate than the unemployment rate for the general population for the last two years. Under his leadership, the rate of those failing supervision and returning to prison has dropped from 40 percent higher than the system average to 20 percent lower. Elaine L. Chao Elaine L. Chao is the Nation’s 24th Secretary of Labor and the first Asian American woman appointed to a President’s cabinet in U.S. history. Arriving at the age of eight from Asia speaking no English, Secretary Chao's experience transitioning to a new country inspired her to dedicate most of her professional life to ensuring that workers have access to opportunity and the chance to build better lives. Secretary Chao has been dedicated to carrying out the Department's mission of promoting and protecting the health, safety, retirement security, and competitiveness of the nation's workforce. Secretary Chao is a strong believer in the importance of education and training to improving the economic opportunities of young people. And she is deeply committed to helping people obtain the education and job skills they need to participate fully in the 21sth century economy. Under her leadership, the Department of Labor has created a number of programs benefiting America’s workers, particularly youth, veterans, and seniors in traditionally underserved communities. The Department’s Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development (WIRED)initiative is a major component of the President’s American Competitiveness Initiative. And the Department’s Job Corps, the nation's largest and most comprehensive residential education and job training program, benefits some 62,000 at-promise youth each year. Secretary Chao is a visionary leader in reducing recidivism and helping offenders transition from prison to work. Under her direction, the Department of Labor funds and manages many programs aimed a reducing recidivism by attaching ex-offenders to the labor market, including Ready4Work and the President's Prisoner Reentry Initiative. The Secretary is committed to coordinating the nation's workforce agencies with correctional institutions and faith-based and community organizations to implement new and innovative Reentry approaches that will help men and women returning from incarceration. Secretary Chao’s career has spanned the public, private, and non-profit sectors. She has served as President and Chief Executive Officer of United Way of America and as Director of the Peace Corps. Her government service also includes serving as Deputy Secretary at the U.S. Department of Transportation and as Chairman of the Federal Maritime Commission. She has also worked in the private sector as Vice President of Syndications at BankAmerica Capital Markets Group and a banker with Citicorp. Secretary Chao received her M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School and her undergraduate degree in economics from Mount Holyoke College. Active in many volunteer activities, Secretary Chao has received numerous awards for her professional accomplishments and community service. She is the recipient of 28 honorary doctoral degrees. Frederick A. Davie Frederick A. Davie joined Public/Private Ventures (P/PV) in 2001 and became president on June 1, 2006. He brings a wealth of public and private sector experience; a deep knowledge of community development and organizing, housing and youth employment issues; and a strong commitment to improving the nation’s social policies. Mr. Davie began his professional career in 1982 as assistant to the executive director of the New York City Mission Society. He went on to become an executive, first at the Brooklyn Ecumenical Cooperatives and then the Presbytery of New York City. In 1991, he joined the public sector, first as special assistant to the president of the New York City Board of Education, then as chief of staff to the deputy mayor for Community and Public Affairs, and finally as deputy borough president in the Office of the Manhattan Borough President. Mr. Davie served as the Program Officer for Faith-Based Community Development at the Ford Foundation, managing a portfolio of nearly $20 million in grants to programs in the U.S. and southern Africa. During his tenure at the Ford Foundation, Mr. Davie developed a nationally-recognized juvenile violence reduction program. He holds a Master of Divinity degree from Yale University and received his B.A. in political science from Greensboro College in North Carolina, where he was elected the first African American President of the Student Government Association. Jay F. Hein Jay F. Hein was named Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives on August 3, 2006. He is the founding president of the Sagamore Institute for Policy Research, an international public policy research firm headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. Mr. Hein also served as Vice President and Chief Executive Officer of the Foundation for American Renewal, a public charity established by Ambassador Daniel R. Coats. Prior to the Sagamore Institute, he was Executive Director of Civil Society Programs at Hudson Institute, including the Welfare Policy Center, the Faith in Communities Initiative, community-based healthcare reform and the Director of Hudson’s field office in Madison, Wisconsin, where he conducted hands-on research and analysis in support of the State’s welfare reforms. He also served in Wisconsin State government as a policy director. In both of these roles, Mr. Hein helped design and implement Wisconsin’s ground-breaking welfare replacement program. Byron Johnson, Ph.D. Byron Johnson is a Professor of Sociology and Co-Director of the Institute for Studies of Religion (ISR) and director of the Program on Prosocial Behavior at Baylor University. He is also a Senior Fellow at the Witherspoon Institute in Princeton, New Jersey. Dr. Johnson’s research focuses on quantifying the effectiveness of faith-based organizations in confronting various social problems. His most recent publications have examined the efficacy of the “faith factor” in reducing crime and delinquency among at-risk youth in urban communities and several studies examining the impact of faith-based programs on recidivism reduction and prisoner Reentry. Dr. Johnson has also written on strategic efforts to reduce family violence and directs the National Domestic Violence Fatality Review Initiative. He is particularly interested in the role of religion in contemporary China and along with other ISR colleagues, is completing a series of groundbreaking empirical studies on this subject. Together with ISR economists, he will soon be launching several major studies exploring the connections between faith and factors related to work and the workplace. Kathy Lambert Kathy Lambert is the Co-Founder and Director of Connections to Success, a faith-based organization that uses a holistic rehabilitative approach to provide a pathway for individuals and families to realize their personal and professional potential. Connections to Success has served 20,000 people since 1998 and strives to achieve the goal of “breaking the cycle of poverty one family at a time.” Connections to Success aims to empower determined individuals with a plan and resources to achieve economic self-sufficiency. Services provided include a faith-based mentoring program in collaboration with local congregations and civic organizations; Dress for Success Midwest, providing interview clothing; the Professional Women’s Group, an innovative job-retention program, moving low-income women toward self-reliance by addressing their social and economic needs in relation to work, home and community; Wheels for Success, a transportation program where vehicles are awarded to individuals; Wheels of Hope, a 8’ x 40’ mobile unit providing services and programs in low-income communities; and Pathways to Success, a holistic transition program for men and women coming out of incarceration and returning to the community. Ms. Lambert has over 20 years of experience in the areas of public speaking, training and consulting and a degree in Social Work from Ball State University. Yalanda L. McFadgon Yalanda McFadgon is currently Executive Director of the Second Chance/Ready4Work Program for the City of Memphis. Ms. McFadgon joined the City of Memphis in 1984 as a Police Service Technician (PST) for the Division of Police Services. After several months as a PST, she returned to the Police Training Academy and graduated as a patrolman. Ms. McFadgon worked as a Police Officer for more than a decade and was assigned to various units, including Uniform Patrol, Crime Prevention, Public Housing, Vice Squad and the Mayor’s Dignitary Protection Team. In 1994, she was promoted to the rank of Sergeant and put in charge of the Mayor’s Dignitary Protection Team. In 2000, Ms. McFadgon began work with Youth Opportunity Services as a Workforce Development Specialist. She was later promoted to Special Program Coordinator and then Project Coordinator for the City of Memphis Ex-Felon Program. Under the visionary leadership of Mayor Willie Herenton, Ms. McFadgon’s mandate was to design, develop and implement the program, which accepted its first applicants in January 2001. Since its inception, the program has placed over 830 participants in jobs and has had nine graduation ceremonies. On October 29, 2003, Public Private Ventures and the Department of Labor awarded the City of Memphis Second Chance program a $1,050,000 grant. The program expanded to become Second Chance/Ready4Work and Ms. McFadgon became its Executive Director. The Federal grant enabled the program to include mentoring and expansion of the job-training component. Ms. McFadgon has a Bachelor of Science in Sociology from Lemoyne Owen College and her Masters in Human Resource Management from Webster University. She is a member of the American Counseling Association and a Motivational Speaker. Brent Orrell Brent Orrell currently serves as Acting Deputy Director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. He is on detail from the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) where he is the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy and External Relations. Before joining ACF, he was the Director of the Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives at the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL). Prior to his service at DOL, he worked in both the United States Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives for 14 years. Robert J. Portman On April 18, 2006, President George W. Bush nominated Rob Portman to be the 35th Director of the Office of Management and Budget. He was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on May 26, 2006 and three days later, he was officially sworn into office by Chief of Staff Josh Bolten. Director Portman first served in the President’s cabinet as the United States Trade Representative. In that position, he worked to expand export opportunities for American farmers, manufacturers and service providers and rebuild the bipartisan consensus for trade. Previously he served as a Representative of the Second District of Ohio in the United States Congress. During his time in Congress, Director Portman served as the Chairman of the House Republican Leadership and was the liaison between the House Leadership and the White House. He was also an effective legislator who was known for reaching across the aisle to achieve results. He served as a Member of the House Ways and Means Committee, and as Vice Chairman of the House Budget Committee. Director Portman’s specific legislative successes include authoring the law to curtail unfunded federal mandates; the first comprehensive reform of the Internal Revenue Service in 50 years—adding over 50 new taxpayer rights; four laws to reduce substance abuse and its consequences through prevention and education; and three laws to encourage people to save more for retirement. Prior to his service in Congress, Director Portman was an associate in the Washington law firm of Patton Boggs from 1984 to1986. He worked as an associate and then a partner at the law firm of Graydon, Head and Ritchey from 1986 to 1989 and 1991 to 1993 in Cincinnati. He served in the first Bush White House from 1989 to 1991 as Associate Counsel to the President and later as Director of the White House Office of Legislative Affairs. 1Joan Petersilia, When Prisoners Come Home: Parole and Prisoner Reentry (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003) 40.
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