Outreach Sees Hope In A Halfway House
St. Petersburg Times (Florida)
By: Beth N. Gray
First published: July 17, 2008
A faith-based organization already ministering to prison inmates believes it can reduce the soaring rate of recidivism - the in-and-out cycle of crime and incarceration - by establishing a halfway house in Hernando County for certain felons.
Peaceful Return Outreach took in $1,500 at a recent kick-off breakfast, said board president Cecil Bradley of Spring Hill, but much more fundraising is needed.
"It would appear we would need about $10,000 for startup expenses but would need to see an income of $80,000 a year before we could get up and running," said the former executive director and construction manager for Habitat for Humanity of Hernando County.
Members of the board of directors include Joanne Mumford, manager of the Jerome Brown Community Center in Brooksville; Tom Bosse, a Pasco County theology student; Barbara Sweinberg, formerly with Habitat.
They have done their homework, having visited the House of Hope for women in Hillsborough County and examined budgets for two halfway houses in Gainesville.
Several directors have been involved in Kairos, a ministry that sponsors intense weekends of inspirational and spiritual in-prison retreats for inmates. "That's where we see the need for halfway houses," Bradley said.
Such transitional housing and programs - counseling, mentoring, job training and placement, networking with the faith community so the formerly incarcerated person can fulfill moral responsibilities and obligations - can reduce the recidivism rate by 15 percent from 80 percent, Bradley maintains.
"The bottom line is we're trying to save lives,'' he said. "What drives us is to save these people, make our communities safer and relieve states' financial burden of incarceration."
Peaceful Return Outreach has developed a multistep process to help formerly incarcerated person who are truly willing to change their lives.
According to the organization's brochure, under what it intends to do:
- "Initial contact with the potential resident occurs when the incarcerated individual participates, over a significant period of time, in weekly meetings with his spiritual mentor. After careful evaluation and only after a positive relationship has been established between the felon and his mentor is he considered for residency in the home.
- "Upon release from prison the mentor brings the ex-felon to the home where he pledges and signs an agreement to abide by the rules of the program."
In its plea for donations, the organization states, "Please don't let the inmate leaving prison lose hope for changing his life because you looked the other way."
Added Bradley, "Many people made only one mistake, but many of their lives could be turned around if they turned to a halfway house."
Bradley hopes to open a transition home by the end of 2009. The goal has been endorsed by Hernando County Sheriff Richard Nugent. Grants are being sought.
Meanwhile, Peaceful Return Outreach members continue to minister and mentor in the region's prisons.
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