RExO Grants: Reduce Recidivism and Build Lives

Each year, juvenile courts in the United States handle roughly 1.6 million cases involving criminal allegations. And each year, an estimated 144,000 youth are placed in juvenile correctional facilities.

Many youth who spend time in the juvenile justice system struggle with low literacy levels, histories of home violence, substance abuse and mental health challenges. Most return to communities with high rates of crime and poor-performing schools. More than half of these youth have not completed the eighth grade, and two in three do not return to school upon their release.

We know that juveniles who are released from confinement are far more likely to succeed if they have access to supportive services that can help them go back to school and pursue a career. Some of these young people grew up without a father and found themselves lured into a gang to feel a sense of belonging. But once they leave juvenile detention, there's a window of opportunity when many youth may be looking for a lifestyle that doesn't involve dealing or stealing.

We have a compelling societal interest to give them a healthy alternative. If we don't, most will go right back through the revolving door of our prison systems, and that means new victims can be created.

When that happens, we all lose.

This month, the Department of Labor announced grants of nearly $50 million to 25 organizations under two different grant programs that serve juveniles under our Re-Integration of Ex-Offenders initiative.

We know -- historically -- that young people face challenges finding that first job opportunity. For those with juvenile records, the challenges of entering the workforce can be especially great. So our grantees are focused on educational interventions to help these youth get their diploma or GED, continue their education, and pursue a fulfilling career.

These projects are opportunities to rebuild trust, so the community views these young people as assets rather than liabilities. By helping their neighbors in high-poverty communities, these young people also help themselves.

With the right supportive services, we can reduce recidivism and help these youth build healthy, productive futures. It's never too late to help turn a life around. And we hope this funding will give youth a true second chance to make a contribution to their communities and our economy.

 

Follow Sec. Hilda Solis on Twitter: www.twitter.com/HildaSolisDOL

Comments

[Gunderan]

11:48 AM on 06/26/2012

Totally agree,I am a product of bad parents who never bothered about anything but themselves,never taught to read/write(my sister was).Forced out of the house so parents could get on with their social lives(not rich or even middle class) spent first two years at school bullied for being stupid and that was just the teachers.With no help i pulled my self up and bingo my parents moved me lost my friends,completely changed circulum. went from a supposed bad school(which became the best) to a bad school that got worse.But with the help of some of my teachers i did really well got a partime job and was earning good money all without crime.I educated myself(with teachers help and worked for 25 years all without crime so stuff them.No training programs,no tv,nothing.
Help those who need it not those who are threating you.By saying do it for me or i will commit crime thats giving into blackmail.

[realitytrumpsbull]

04:02 AM on 06/26/2012

I'm partly against this, because you are essentially rewarding people, especially young people, for failure. If the federal government is so eager to hand out money to members of the public, then use it to help members of the public who have NOT broken the law, in some way. The corrections system in all its' aspects and permutations is sufficiently suspect as it is. If local, state, and federal government want to do something to help troubled youth, then they will combine youth corrections with some kind of in-house instructional trade program, based on good conduct and merit of the youth being corrected. I would also like to see a cost study done, to see how much money is currently being spent on juvenile/adult corrections, and more to the point some evidence that such entities and institutions are in fact being run to a high standard that precludes fraud, waste, and embezzlement in various forms, as well as any other indications of improper management as has been reported recently in the news. There are millions upon millions more people in this country that are worthy of a government grant, or maybe just a tax break, than teen youth who've decided to embark on a life of crime in their second decade. I think youth should be given a second chance, after they've paid their dues and turned 18, not before. If government rewards you for screwing up, what kind of message does that send?

[Jefferson78]

12:24 AM on 06/27/2012

A very bad message. We should reward kids who lay by th rules, not criminals.

[inthedesert]

07:14 PM on 06/25/2012

And, OF COURSE, Hildie is speaking totally to and of the latino community. But, not once, is the word latino used........nice job of obfuscating Hildie.

[stortoriel]

07:23 PM on 06/25/2012

Why only Latino's? Black and some white Americans have these issues too. Don't be a bigot.

[Sha Corey]

04:30 PM on 06/25/2012

These grants went to charter schools who are creating the pipeline to prison and are only in the business of making money off of some in our community while throwing the rest of us away. Horrible news