Volunteers of America Northern New England received a $20,000 award of excellence for its community corrections program through the Volunteers of America / Annie E. Casey Foundation Family Strengthening Award Program. Accepting the award above were (left to right) Betty Fortune, program director, Community Corrections Transition and Reunification Program; Dawn Batts, Board Member for Volunteers of America; and Charles Gould, president of Volunteers of America. The award will provide continued services for the Community Corrections Transition and Reunification Program. This program provides offenders at the Maine Correctional Center in Windham with the necessary resources both during and after incarceration to ensure a healthy transition back into the family and successful re-entry into the community.
“We are truly honored and grateful to receive this prestigious award from the Annie E. Casey Foundation,” said June Koegel, president and chief executive officer of Volunteers of America Northern New England. “Besides providing generous funding to allow us to continue our services, this unique grant recognizes the excellence and innovation of our team and our partnership with the Maine Department of Corrections. As part of that recognition, other Volunteers of America affiliates from across the country will have the opportunity to visit Maine to gain the knowledge to start similar programs in their home states.”
The Community Corrections Transition and Reunification Program gives offenders at the Maine Correctional Center a fighting chance of getting their lives and families back on track during and after incarceration. The program includes a full array of family-focused and integrated transition and case-management services that address the major concerns of re-entry into the community. These include family reunification, parenting skills, affordable housing, employment that pays a livable wage, education and empowerment, and continuity of care for mental health, physical health, and substance abuse issues. Hundreds of former offenders in Maine have made a successful transition that has prevented 80% of them from returning to prison (almost three times the national average).
"I am delighted that Volunteers of America Northern New England is being recognized for its work in Maine reentry efforts," said Becky Hayes Boober, executive director of the Maine Reentry Network in the Maine Department of Corrections. "This strengths-based model has proven results in Maine. Fewer than 20 percent of people in this program have committed new crimes or been returned to jail or prison after release. This is a significant improvement over the national average. This is a well-deserved award and the collaborative effort is a model that has great potential for other sites."
The Volunteers of America / Annie E. Casey Foundation Family Strengthening Award Program recognizes programs that represent highly innovative and successful approaches for building a network of services that support whole families, recognizing that children do better when families do better, and families do better when they live in supportive communities. Services include increasing family self-sufficiency and self-determination, improving child well-being, and strengthening community supports for families. Volunteers of America’s offices in North Louisiana and Oregon were also awarded grants for their programs.
