Partners in Crime Prevention
Not only is Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) dedicated to making America’s streets safer by bringing communities together and imposing harsh penalties upon felons found to have guns and the traffickers that supply them, but that effort also extends to the reintegration of offenders who are granted parole. The following are two organizations that have taken part in parolee forums and provide services to ex-offenders to make their transition from prison to law-abiding community life more successful.
The Safer Foundation is an organization that focuses on individualized attention and assistance. The main goal here is to prepare the clients (parolees or other ex-offenders such as adjudicated juveniles) for what it takes to make it in their community. Once admitted into the Safer Foundation, there is an intake assessment to identify what areas need to be targeted for each individual client. Clients who have not completed their high school equivalency are given that opportunity. The Safer Foundation also serves as a liaison for clients and potential employers by providing opportunities, training clients on what is expected of them, and resolving any issues that may arise during the first year of employment. For those clients that continue to have difficulty with their transition, intensive case management is available. For more information on The Safer Foundation, their services, clients, and partners, please visit their website at www.safer-fnd.org/.
Loretto Hospital addresses issues that may be the most pivotal in terms of keeping their clients out of the criminal underground. These issues are mental illness and substance abuse. The first service that is offered is an inpatient psychiatric unit for clients that require hospitalization for their illness. The second service offered is an addiction center which focuses not only on the chemical addiction, but promotes “dignity, self-empowerment, and holistic human and community health.” The third service Loretto Hospital provides is their Outpatient Behavioral Health Center. This comprehensive outpatient care center provides assistance in medication, counseling, group or family therapy, case management for assistance with finances and housing, and 24-hour crisis management. This organization truly treats every aspect of mental illness and substance abuse to assist not only former inmates, but the public in general as well. For more information on Loretto Hospital, their services, clients, and partners, please visit their website at www.lorettohospital.com/.
Thanks to organizations such as these, Project Safe Neighborhoods can truly and positively effect parolee’s lives in a manner that allows them to be welcomed back into their community as a hard working, honest, law-abiding citizen. With organizations such as these, the criminal underground doesn’t stand a chance.