Project GRIT N GRIND

Project GRIT N GRIND focuses on 16 contiguous zip codes in Memphis, Tennessee, located in downtown Memphis, South Memphis, and North Memphis, where poverty and crime rates exceed the average rates of the city and state. HopeWorks, Inc., a local non-profit organization with 33 years of experience serving individuals reentering the community, will administer the grant and interface with the local Shelby County Division of Corrections (SCDC) to expand current partnership programs to include 150 more inmates for the 36-month grant period. The SCDC is a separate facility of Shelby County Government that houses on average 1400 individuals per day who are convicted with a sentence to serve. HopeWorks will use its extensive experience and expertise to provide a full menu of easily accessible services during and post-incarceration, including personal and career development classes, job training, counseling, mentoring, and adult basic education. The grant goal is to strengthen the Memphis community by improving reentry outcomes for individuals who have been incarcerated and reducing recidivism. The objectives are (1) to develop comprehensive case management plans that directly address criminogenic risk and needs, as identified by validated criminogenic risk assessments, and deliver or facilitate services in a manner consistent with participants' learning styles and abilities, as measured by the number of completed plans and documentation of delivered services; (2) to demonstrate increased collaboration between community-based organizations and corrections, community supervision, law enforcement, and other local reentry stakeholders, as measured by documentation of meetings and meeting content summaries, and (3) to promote racial equity and the removal of barriers to access and opportunity for targeted communities that have been historically underserved, marginalized, and adversely affected by inequality, as measured by documentation of participant outcomes, challenges and observed community changes. Deliverables include (1) an action plan to be developed with input from BJA and the assigned technical  assistance provider, submitted within 6 months of receiving final budget approval; and (2) a final report at the end of the project period summarizing expenditures and detailing types of programmatic activities, clients served, and overall lessons learned, including milestones and outcomes throughout the program; and (3) a final evaluation report prepared by the independent evaluator.