E-ALERT: Volume 2, Number 5

IMPORTANT FUNDING OPPORTUNITY ANNOUNCEMENT

President's Prisoner Re-entry Initiative

The U.S. Department of Labor Announces $19.8 Million in Funding for Faith-Based and Community Organizations.

The U.S. Department of Justice will subsequently award competitive grants to State agencies to provide pre-release services to prisoners who will be returning to the communities served by these grants from the Department of Labor.

President George W. Bush's Prisoner Re-entry Initiative seeks to strengthen urban communities characterized by large numbers of returning prisoners through an employment-centered program that incorporates mentoring, job training, and other comprehensive transitional services. The Department of Labor (DOL) will award grants to faith-based and community organizations (FBCOs), through this competitive process, to be the agencies carrying out this Initiative.

Each lead local agency awarded a DOL grant may choose to directly provide services to released prisoners; provide sub-grants to other FBCOs to provide these services; or use a mixed approach of providing some direct services themselves while using other FBCOs to also provide services. We expect that most lead local agencies will need to sub-grant some portion of their award to other FBCOs. If the lead local agency is using sub-grantees, it will be responsible for providing technical assistance and oversight to these other FBCOs. Lead local FBCOs applying for these grants will identify as part of their application the need in the community that they plan to serve; their proposed FBCO sub-grantees; their plan for serving released prisoners; and their partnerships with the criminal justice system, Workforce Investment Board, housing authority, and mental health and substance abuse treatment providers.

For more information, we invite you to visit the Department of Justice Task Force for Faith-based and Community Initiatives website, at http://www.usdoj.gov/fbci.