By Nicole Maharaj
June 27, 2005

The Task Force Faith-Based and Community Initiatives met June 12 to discuss the need to promote safe and successful reentry for people leaving jail and prison. Task Force attendees were presented outreach accomplishments over the past year and city strategies and recommendations to help reduce recidivism. Under the leadership of Philadelphia Mayor John Street, the task force met to craft an action plan to help guide the work of the Mayors Faith Center over the next year. This action agenda will include working on comprehensive solutions for both cities and counties. Joe Fuller, County Executive for Rapides Parish (LA), and Chair of the Criminal and Social Justice Committee for the National Association of Counties participated in the task force discussion and pledged NACo's support in moving forward the reentry agenda for cities and counties.

According to Street, "If we could reduce our recidivism rates in this country — in our cities — by finding ways to help our ex-offenders successfully reintegrate back into society, think of the funds we could save. Costs associated with keeping people incarcerated in this country in 1999 alone neared $146 billion. Think of the resources that would become available for education, recreation, housing and medical assistance. Beyond that, if we could find ways to help people who come out of prison stay out of prison, think of the impact that would have on others — particularly their children. We already know children of prisoners have a 70 percent greater chance of following their parents into prison. How do we break this cycle? We have spent too much time getting people into prisons; now we have to expend some energy and time trying to figure how to keep folks out of prison."

Street has brought both local leadership to Philadelphia and national leadership through the efforts of the Mayors Faith Center to the issue of prisoner reentry.

In Philadelphia, Street directed varying agencies within his administration to launch a multi-faceted attack on the problem of recidivism. Over the last several years, varying agencies — some governmental, some faith-based, some public non-profits — have combined their efforts to make the Philadelphia plan for ex-offender reentry and reintegration a growing success story.

Street's national efforts have lead to various national forums on the issue in conjunctions with other national organizations such as the National Conference of Black Mayors, the National Urban League and the Congressional Black Caucus. Also, under Street's leadership working in conjunction with other key mayors several policy recommendations have been adopted in correlation to comprehensive reentry outreach for persons leaving jail and prison, community based mentoring for children of incarcerated parents, positive youth development strategies and fairness and relevance to census bureau counts of incarcerated persons. The task force will over the next year focus on the following: youth development and prevention initiatives; strategies to respond to injustices faced by women in the corrections system; new ways at looking at people coming out of prison as community assets and creative ways to finance reentry strategies.

Michelle Light, Assistant to Mayor Richard M. Daley for Reentry Initiatives in Chicago made a presentation about Chicago's innovative efforts over the last year. Light is responsible for driving the city's reentry efforts and helping to develop concrete, meaningful and feasible measures to address this problem. The Mayoral Policy Caucus will soon issue a report of recommendations and analysis to the mayor on this issue. The Mayoral Policy Caucus is an initiative bringing together policymakers; civic and business leaders; members of the community and faith organizations; academic researchers and other key stakeholders to assess and develop a strategic response to the challenge of prisoner reentry for Chicago. Close to 18,000 prisoners return to Chicago each year.