Mercy Corp Launched Lifelong Education for Entrepreneurs
Mercy Corp Launched Lifelong Education for Entrepreneurs
From Mercy Corp Northwest
In 2007, MCNW launched Lifelong Education for Entrepreneurs (LIFE) at the Coffee Creek Correctional Facility (CCCF) in Wilsonville, OR. Mercy Corp Launched Lifelong Education for Entrepreneurs
The LIFE prison reentry program reduces recidivism up to 50%; building resiliency and establishing self-sufficiency and economic stability for incarcerated individuals and their families.
A Volunteer’s Chance to Make a Difference Behind Bars
LIFE Inside, Entrepreneurship Training for Incarcerated People
This 32 weeks of accredited training empowers participants to develop an entrepreneurial mindset and leverages the potential of self-employment promote resilience, and economic stability. Currently serving women at Oregon’s only women’s prison, Coffee Creek Correctional Facility, with hopes of expansion to a men’s facility, the LIFE Inside class provides business planning and training that promotes:
- Job creation and economic self-sufficiency
- Reduces reliance on social welfare programs
- Prevents further criminal activity
- Most of all, it betters the lives of these individuals, their families and communities.
When women graduate from this program, they are equipped with an amended business plan, transition plan, certificate of achievement, two versions of their resume and three credits attributed to their college transcripts.
“This program encouraged me to reach my potential. The experience was of self discovery, accountability, and self discipline. I learned to set goals, use resources and hold myself to a standard that provided me with a sense of worth and accomplishment.”
– LIFE Graduate, June 2018
The classes are delivered by MCNW staff with help from community experts and volunteers. Students are taught small business development topics such as profit and loss projections, legal organization, break-even analysis and marketing as well life skills such as effective communication, conflict management, goal planning and time management.
“This program presents the inner workings of how to make a business plan. It’s a step-by-step guide that is comprehensive, objective and related specifically to each individual. I gratefully say that it has changed and organized my life- the transition plan is a complete game changer. I have a concrete plan of how, when and where I’ll reach my goals and pave the way to start my business plan. I even know how to talk to an employer about the gap in my work history and my criminal record. This LIFE Program wins!”
– LIFE Graduate, June 2018
LIFE Outside, Support for a Successful Reentry Back into Society
In the very beginning of its life cycle, the LIFE Outside project hopes to pilot a social enterprise that creates change in our community generates sustaining revenue to the LIFE Program. We hope to create an innovative, groundbreaking, response to the needs of individuals who have been recently released from prison. This initiative is both a response to the loss of the Mercy Corps Northwest Reentry Transition Center and to the growing prison population in Oregon. The RTC served many who were recently released from prison via a peer led and supportive model. Our hope is to continue to offer services to recently released individuals. It is important to our team that our response to this growing crisis is innovative and creates lasting change in the lives of the people we serve, therefore creating change in the local community, families, and the region at large. The dream is this: a social enterprise that employs LIFE Inside graduates, offers supportive management, incentivises education, and is a launching pad to the greater employment market.
The LIFE program also incorporates bridging services to allow participants to meet 1:1 with a qualified professional both pre and post release. During these meetings staff and participants work together to create a realistic and practical transition plan.
- Pre-Release – Identifies gaps and gives individualized feedback on the student’s transition plan, offers county-specific resource information and provides assistance in navigating and accessing primary medical care, mental health, and addictions treatment, and delivers practical support related to problem-solving, stress-management, action planning, and communication skills.
- Post-release – Gives in-person or phone-based counseling and emotional support, as well as referrals to medical/mental health care, housing, A&D support, and other re-entry services.
Along with coursework and mentoring support of the LIFE Inside class, MCNW offers an innovative matched savings program that encourages both the fiscal discipline of saving toward a goal, and the development of resources for successful reentry. Students must demonstrate consistent attendance, complete homework, create and execute a savings plan based on their current earnings and needs, and complete both a transition plan and a business plan. Once they have filled these requirements, the students are eligible for a $500 grant for transition needs upon release.
“The LIFE Program gives us hope for a better life. Not only hope, but the tools and confidence to follow through with our dreams and goals. This program changes lives. It will break the cycle of incarceration and addiction for those of us that take it seriously. This program is helping me have a second chance at life.”
– LIFE Graduate, June 2018
LIFE has been recognized on a national level for its one-of-kind approach to weave together entrepreneurial, life skills, and reentry planning as a solution for reducing recidivism and ending mass incarceration. Specifically, in 2017, the LIFE program was highlighted in policy paper published by The Aspen Institute, an internationally recognized educational and policy studies organization, entitled Prison to Proprietorship.
A Volunteer's Chance to Make a Difference Behind Bars
A Volunteer's Chance to Make a Difference Behind Bars
From Prison Fellowship
Founded in 1976, Prison Fellowship® exists to serve all those affected by crime and incarceration, and to see lives and communities restored in and out of prison—one transformed life at a time. A Volunteer’s Chance to Make a Difference Behind Bars
A single mom of two, Monica has a packed schedule. There are many other places she could be, besides a maximum-security men’s prison. But for her, this work is deeply personal.
All Women Deserve to be Treated with Human Dignity – Especially While Pregnant
All Women Deserve to be Treated with Human Dignity – Especially While Pregnant
From Conservative Justice Reform
Alexandria, VA – Today we proudly commend the unanimous passage of HB 1648 – ‘Dignity for Incarcerated Women’ in the Senate, led by Delegates John McGuire, Nick Freitas, and Kaye Kory of the Virginia General Assembly. All Women Deserve to be Treated with Human Dignity – Especially While Pregnant
As a conservative organization that focuses on improving the criminal justice system, we support this positive step towards affording every woman in prison a degree of basic humanity, which is often lost in a system designed for men.
Women are the fastest growing population in the commonwealth’s prison system. Unfortunately, the unique needs and challenges of this growing population of incarcerated women are often left out of the conversations surrounding criminal justice reform. The bi-partisan sponsors of Dignity for Incarcerated Women have recognized the burgeoning crisis of women’s healthcare in our prisons. “Our Dignity bill is a pro-life, pro humane, and a pro woman bill that is plainly common sense. I am proud to chief co-patron this bipartisan legislation with ACU and others,” explained Delegate McGuire.
Dignity for Incarcerated Women would provide guidance to address pregnancy-related needs of incarcerated women. In addition to providing access to prenatal and post-delivery care, and support to pregnant and postpartum inmates, training and technical assistance would be provided to correctional staff to ensure compliance. Without proper access and training, incarcerated women will continue to be body searched by corrections officers of the opposite gender, leading to further trauma, and children will have less opportunity to visit their mothers who are serving time to ensure a familial bond. This is incredibly important considering that in Virginia, 1 in 4 children will experience the incarceration of a parent before the age of 18.
Olivia McLarnan, a Policy Analyst at #cut50, notes “today the Virginia Senate took a huge step forward to improve the lives of the Virginia’s incarcerated women and their families. We are proud of the bipartisan support shown for HB 1648 and look forward to continuing to build on this momentum with our partners across the aisle.”
One key provision deals with the shocking practice of shackling pregnant women during pregnancy and delivery. Unbelievably, this heinous practice still happens far too often inside our prisons. The use of shackles can cause injuries to mothers and their babies, including physical trauma due to falls, increased pain during labor from bone separation and muscle tears, blocked circulation, and miscarriage.
Delegate Kory explains that, “the number of women inmates has skyrocketed since 1980 by 750%. Our criminal justice system cannot handle women’s needs–especially the needs of the 60% who are mothers. I am very proud to be the patron of HB 1648, this exciting first step towards healing and strengthening the families who are forced apart by incarceration.”
There is a growing trend on keeping babies with their mothers for a set period of time in order to bond with one another. Feeling the same heartbeat, hearing the same rhythm of breathing, assures the baby they’re safe and with their mother. Those of us who place a high value on families, keeping children with their mothers makes perfect sense. There is no stronger bond than that a mother’s love for her child. Kaitlin Owens, a Policy Analyst at ACUF’s Nolan Center for Justice, adds, “As conservatives, we believe every life has value. Dignity for Incarcerated Women ensures that expectant mothers are provided all the things necessary for a safe pregnancy and a healthy delivery even when they are behind bars. Nothing is more pro-life than that.”
As conservatives, we believe it is possible to be tough on crime, while recognizing that each person has inherent value. The underlying principles embodies in Dignity for Incarcerated Women will help to preserve the human dignity of the women and babies in our justice system, while achieving more positive results for families throughout the country.
Our mission at the American Conservative Union Foundation is to educate Americans about conservative solutions to the country’s most pressing problems. ACUF’s Center for Criminal Justice Reform promotes policies that improve public safety, reduce government cost, and protect human dignity. Criminal Justice Reform is a high priority for ACUF, and it has been highlighted at each of ACUF’s Conservative Political Action Conferences (CPAC) for over a decade. For more information, please got to: ConservativeJustiveReform.org.
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Kaitlin Owens
804-405-9559
All Women Deserve to be Treated with Human Dignity – Especially While Pregnant
All Women Deserve to be Treated with Human Dignity – Especially While Pregnant