Award Information
Description of original award (Fiscal Year 2013, $300,000)
The Second Chance Act of 2007 (Pub. L. 110-199) reflects a comprehensive response to the increasing number of people who are released from prison and jail and are returning to communities. Section 211 of the Act authorizes grants to nonprofit organizations and federally recognized Indian tribes that may be used for mentoring projects to promote the safe and successful reintegration into the community of adults who have been incarcerated. Mentoring refers to a developmental relationship in which a more experienced person helps a less experienced person develop an enhanced sense of self-worth and specific knowledge and skills to increase the chance of successful reentry.
The goal of this program is to promote more effective and successful reentry for offenders through the establishment and maintenance of pre- and post-release mentoring relationships. The objectives of this program are to establish or improve the administration of mentoring programs, including the expansion of mentoring strategies and program design; enhance and improve the organizational capacity, system efficiency, and cost effectiveness of mentoring programs through training and technical assistance and other strategies, and; improve outcomes for offenders in mentoring programs by establishing and strengthening collaborative community approaches.
Project Return, Inc. will use their Second Chance Act Mentoring funds to target noncustodial parents with child support obligations. Project Return, Inc. proposes to implement and evaluate the Family Ties Mentoring Program (FTM), a program targeting noncustodial parents in the child support system who are currently incarcerated and ready to be released into the community, supported by a full offering of reentry services.
The recipient will utilize funds to provide comprehensive pre- and post-release reentry services to ex-offenders in Middle TN. The program will serve up to 250 noncustodial parents through the program randomly assigned to an experimental and control group.
CA/NCF