President’s Prisoner Re-entry Initiative Grants

Posted by on May 6, 2005

President’s Prisoner Re-entry Initiative: DOL Announces $19.8 Million in Funding for Faith-Based and Community Organizations

Summary: The President’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. This program, which involves several federal agencies, is designed to reduce recidivism by helping inmates find
work when they return to their communities, as part of an effort to build a life in the community for everyone. The Department of Labor (DOL) will be awarding grants under this competition to faith-based and community organizations (FBCOs) to be the agencies carrying out this demonstration.

The 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 the DOL grants. The Department of Housing and Urban Development may in future years provide funds under this initiative for housing services and the Department of Health and Human Services is also assisting in the design and implementation of the initiative regarding substance abuse and mental health treatment. We hope to serve 6,250 released prisoners during the first year of this initiative with projects operating in 30 communities across the country.

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.

Am I an Eligible Applicant for These Grants?: You are eligible to apply for the DOL grants if you are a faith-based or community-based organization and are located within or have a staff presence within the urban community that is the focus of your grant application. Urban communities are those that are located within Urbanized Areas or Urban Clusters, as designated by the Census Bureau in the 2000 Census. National or regional FBCOs may submit separate proposals for more Than one metropolitan area, but applicants must demonstrate that they have a presence in each metropolitan area for which they submit a separate application for each metropolitan area. Can an FBCO Be Listed as a Sub-Grantee in More Than One Application? Yes, but if an FBCO is listed as a sub-grantee in two winning proposals, it will only be allowed to receive a sub-grant award from one grant.

Due Date: The closing date for receipt of applications under this announcement is July 13, 2005. Applications must be received no later than 5 p.m. (EST). Application and Submission information is explained in detail in Section IV of this SGA.

<a href="http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/01jan20051800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2005/pdf/05-6484.pdf">http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/01jan20051800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2005/pdf/05-6484.pdf</a>