www.goodwilleasterseals.org: Prisoner Reentry Initiative

Goodwill/Easter Seals Minnesota

More than just a store. With your support, we build healthy families and communities one job at a time. ___________________________

Prisoner ReEntry Initiative (PRI)

Goodwill/Easter Seals Minnesota and the Minnesota Department of Corrections (DOC) are partnering to provide intensive re-entry services to individuals being released from the MCF-Faribault and MCF-Shakopee prisons.

Services

Goodwill/Easter Seals offers the following services to help participants succeed in life and the workplace:

Individualized job placement assistance targeting career-oriented positions with good pay, benefits and potential for advancement
Employment readiness training
Interview training
Opportunity to be placed in a transitional job
Opportunity to receive skills training in construction, automotive, forklift operation or customer service/call center
Comprehensive support services, including computer classes, General Educational Development (GED) degree, math and reading tutoring or classes
Referrals to community resources for housing, substance abuse treatment, health care and legal
assistance
Cognitive skills classes
Mentoring

About ReEntryWorks

This program originated through the ReEntryWorks initiative. Goodwill/Easter Seals Minnesota and The Wilder Foundation partnered to provide services in the ReEntryWorks research project funded principally by The Joyce Foundation (opens external site in new window). The goal of ReEntryWorks is to inform public policy about effective methods of preparing ex-offenders for stable employment, reducing their likelihood of committing additional crimes, and improving public safety. Four other demonstration sites are located in Chicago (two), Detroit, and Milwaukee. The random assignment evaluation is being conducted by MDRC, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization in New York, NY, in partnership with the Urban Institute in Washington, DC, and the University of Michigan Sociology Department.

Intake of new participants for ReEntryWorks is now closed. We are expecting results from the random assignment evaluation to be made public in early 2010.

For more information about Goodwill/Easter Seals, please contact us. We welcome your financial support to help us meet the growing need for our services. Why give to Goodwill/Easter Seals?

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Service location

553 Fairview Ave. North, St. Paul (opens Google map in a new window)
Center for Families, Minneapolis

Eligibility requirements

Eligible participants must be referred directly by a Department of Corrections ReEntry Coordinator.

For more information

Andy Sagvold

(651) 379-5863

About funding

The Prisoner ReEntry Initiative is a joint program of the Department of Justice and the Department of Labor. The Minnesota DOC contracted with Goodwill/Easter Seals to provide employment services for a portion of the individuals being served by the PRI program.

This program is also funded in part by grants from The Joyce Foundation, The St. Paul Foundation and the Hearst Foundation.

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