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OPA News Release: [03/28/2008]
Contact Name: Otto Heck or Suzy Bohnert
Phone Number: (202) 693-4676 or x4665
Release Number: 08-0373-NAT

U.S. Labor Department’s Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives honors work of Spectrum Resources in Des Moines, Iowa

DES MOINES, Iowa — In a ceremony today at the Des Moines Botanical Center, Scott Shortenhaus, deputy director of the U.S. Department of Labor's Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives (CFBCI), honored Spectrum Resources as a Champion of Compassion Award winner.

"The difference Spectrum Resources makes in Des Moines shows what can happen when government partners with effective faith-based and community organizations to serve our neighbors in need," said Shortenhaus. "The commitment and the caring touch of organizations such as Spectrum Resources can make that critical difference between repeated struggles and new beginnings for ex-prisoners and others in need. They are the vital heart of the faith-based and community initiative."

Spectrum Resources won a competitively-awarded Labor Department grant in 2005 to provide transitional services to former prisoners under President George W. Bush's Prisoner Re-entry Initiative, which was announced in the president's 2004 "State of the Union" address.

Spectrum Resources works with many community partners to provide services to ex-offenders that include mentoring, job training, job placement and life skills. Through the first two years of services, Spectrum Resources has enrolled nearly 400 participants in its Prisoner Re-entry Initiative program and has placed 83 percent of its participants into jobs. The one-year recidivism rate for program participants is currently less than half the national average.

The Champion of Compassion Award recognizes the partnership of faith-based and community groups with the Department of Labor. Through their deep commitment and caring touch, these groups have made a critical difference for so many who otherwise may have fallen through the cracks. These partnerships model what is possible when government joins with the unique strengths of local faith-based and community organizations to serve neighbors in need.

The CFBCI helps Americans in need by fostering partnerships between government and effective nonprofit service organizations, whether faith-based or secular, large or small. For more information on the CFBCI and Spectrum Resources, visit http://www.dol.gov/cfbci.