Mobile Career Center

The Edward Byrne Memorial Discretionary Grants Program (Byrne Discretionary Program) helps local communities improve the capacity of local justice systems and provides for national support efforts. This project is authorized and funded through a line item in the FY 08 Congressional Budget. Funds should be used for purposes recommended by Congress.

The County of Baltimore's Reentry Unit will improve its employment assistance services to ex-inmates returning to the County from Maryland's state prisons. They will purchase a mobile vehicle to travel to those areas of the County with the largest number of recently returned ex-inmates: Riverview, Woodmoor, Scotts Branch, Hillendale, Deep Creek, and Yorkway. The vehicle will be deployed on a regular schedule at locations convenient to public transportation and be staffed by a manager and two re-Entry specialists from the County Reentry Unit (CRU), all of whom are certified Offender Workforce Development Specialists. The mobile vehicle will computer stations for use by the ex-inmates and the CRU will be able to offer multiple levels of assistance, including enrollment in the Maryland Workforce Exchange, vocational and academic assessments, internet access to job boards and employers, career counseling services. In addition, the mobile CRU will deploy at the Baltimore County Detention Center once a week to assist prisoners enrolled in the work-release program.

NCA/NCF