By David Eugene Archer Sr.
Journalism Guild Writer
The new Richmond Re-entry Success Center is designed to help people recently released from prison or jail to get back on their feet, broadcast station KQED reports.
The center is located in downtown Richmond to be easily accessible to formerly incarcerated people, reported Sukey Lewis for KQED.
The center is key to the county’s plan to help keep people out of jail, said Contra Costa County Supervisor John Gioia. “If we can show this center works and these programs work, it’ll hopefully help build the case for investing more money in this type of work, it makes quality of life better for people who are released from jail and return, and it makes our community safer. So it’s a win-win.”
Center director Nicholas Alexander commented, “If we look back at how re-entry worked over the last decade, it’s really been unsuccessful…over half of people tend to go back into incarceration…the bar is pretty low, unfortunately.”
“Part of why re-entry work has failed is that people can be denied employment and housing based on their criminal history,” Alexander added. The center’s holistic approach is designed to help its clients navigate those legal barriers.
“As a whole we’re working more collaboratively, so less people are going to slip through the cracks.”
Kenneth McDowell spent five months behind bars on a felony assault charge. When he got out about a year ago, he had lost his housing and job. He said, “You have to gather your thoughts…and you have to just take every step a little step at a time.”
McDowell wants to become a chef, but he is working as a janitor at the center.
Fifteen years ago, Dameion King was serving a three-year sentence for firearm and drug possession. Now he’s a coach at the center.
The space is designed to make people looking for help feel more empowered. King said, “I know that when I came home, there was nothing like this,”
The center has helped about 100 people from across the county since opening in October 2015. Contra Costa has invested about $10 million in community-based re-entry services and $400,000 in the center, the March 10 story reported.
Supervisor Gioia said as more people hear about the center and get the help they need, he hopes it will become a model for the rest of the state.
The Office of Neighborhood Safety [https://www.ci.richmond.ca.us/271/Office-of-Neighborhood-Safety] techniques involve street outreach and transformative travel. ONS seeks out young men who are active firearm offenders to present credible alternatives to violence.
