Fathers Building Futures Community-Based Reentry Program

The purpose of the proposed Fathers Building Futures Service Plan is to expand reentry employment services and connections. Primary activities focus on training participants in woodworking and other job skills, workforce development, and soft skills employment and career training with subsidized employment opportunities in a wood shop. Program services begin before release and extend three years into reentry, including wraparound transitional support services and referrals with dozens of community partners. Intended beneficiaries are incarcerated adult fathers who are a medium to high risk for recidivism and have expected release dates within two to three months from the service area of Bernalillo County (seating Albuquerque), New Mexico. Expected outcomes: 1) At least 60 fathers receive up to 4 months of post-release job training and employment services; 2) At least 75% complete program and make progress toward Goal Plans, including securing stable employment; 3) At least 30% initiate a financial savings plan within 12 months; 4) At least 90% compliance on child support orders, if applicable, within three months of release; and 5) Recidivism rates for program participants will be less than half of New Mexico's three-year recidivism rate.

Fathers Building Futures promotes racial equity and the removal of barriers to access, while improving opportunities for communities that have been historically underserved, marginalized, and adversely affected by inequality. New Mexico is among the top four states in the nation that have the highest proportion (63%) of people of color incarcerated. While people of color are disproportionately impacted by the criminal justice system nationwide, the outlook for Latinos in New Mexico is dire. Latinos are 1.8 more likely than Whites to be incarcerated in New Mexico and, as of 2019, New Mexico had a higher proportion of Latinos incarcerated (60%) than any other state. Empirically, 100% of past participants in Fathers Building Futures programming were people of color (73% Latino, 16% Black, and 11% Native American).

Fathers Building Futures conducts individualized reentry career planning with all participants who develop their own Goal Plans, demonstrates connections with an average of a dozen employers at any given time within the local community, and collaborates with state and local agencies to track and monitor employment and recidivism outcomes. This project is designed to promote racial equity and the removal of barriers to access and opportunity for communities that have been historically underserved, marginalized, and adversely affected by inequality.