The Pew Charitable Trusts has awarded a three-year, $180,000 grant to Cabrini College to support the College's partnership with the borough of Norristown. The grant will help fund and coordinate prisoner reentry services for ex-offenders from Montgomery County Correctional Facility (MCCF) returning to the Norristown community. Network partners will include the criminal justice system, social service agencies, and the faith community.
Over three years, the project plans to connect formerly incarcerated men and women with job training and placement services, education, housing support and counseling. One hundred ex-offenders will be selected for participation in the program each year. Coordinators of the program hope to increase from 32 percent to 65 percent the percentage of ex-offenders leaving MCCF who successfully avoid returning to prison.
Dr. Jeffrey Gingerich, associate professor of sociology, teaches at MCCF "The Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program: Exploring Issues of Crime and Justice Behind the Walls," which allows opportunities for social change through conversation between Cabrini students and inmates.
"This grant was driven by our partners in the Norristown community," said Dr. Gingerich, "who expressed a need to bridge the gap between the important services in the prison and in the community in order to help the men and women returning to their communities succeed."
For more information on the Pew grant, or on the Cabrini Partnership Project @ Norristown, contact David Chiles, director of the Wolfington Center, at 610.902.8408.
The Pew Charitable Trusts (www.pewtrusts.org) is driven by the power of knowledge to serve today's most challenging problems. Pew applies a rigorous, analytical approach to improve public policy, inform the public and stimulate civic life. It partners with a diverse range of donors, public and private organizations and concerned citizens who share its commitment to fact-based solutions and goal-driven investments to improve society.