i have heard that there are grants to men that have been…

I have provided info on who and what is available to you.
There are direct phone numbers and addresses below,
as well as some important and helpful websites.

Peace


An excellent site you should visit right away,
is at Ready4Work

This is the website of the U.S. Department of Labor
Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives

To get started getting help, contact the office closest to you:

:::Ready4Work National Contacts:::

Boston, MA
Straight Ahead Ministries XXXXX
2nd Floor Westboro, MA 01581 (NNN) NNN-NNNN
Executive Director: Rev. Robb Zarges


Brooklyn, NY:
Office of Kings County District Attorney
Renaissance Plaza XXXXX
Brooklyn, NY 11201
Executive Director: Ms. Joan Gabbidon (NNN) NNN-NNNN


Camden, NJ
Volunteers of America Delaware Valley
235 White Horse Pike
2nd Floor
Collingswood, NJ 08107
Executive Director: Ms. Patricia McKernan (NNN) NNN-NNNN


Chicago, IL
Safer Foundation
571 W. Jackson St.
Chicago, IL 60661 (NNN) NNN-NNNN
Executive Director: Ms. B. XXXXX XXXXX


Detroit, MI
Detroit America Works
2990 West Grand Boulevard
Suite 400
Detroit, MI 48202
Executive Director: Dr. Lee Bowes (NNN) NNN-NNNN


Houston, TX
Adult Site
Moving Forward
2419 Isabella
Houston, TX 77004 (NNN) NNN-NNNN
Executive Director(s): Ms. XXXXX XXXXXino (NNN) NNN-NNNN

Mr. Tommie Dorsett (NNN) NNN-NNNN

Juvenile Site
Moving Forward
104 E. 33rd
Houston, TX 77018
Executive Director: Pandoria Hardeway (NNN) NNN-NNNN

Jacksonville, FL
Operation New Hope
1321 N. Main Street
Jacksonville, FL 32206
President: Mr. Kevin T. Gay (NNN) NNN-NNNN


Los Angeles, CA
Adult Site
Union Rescue Mission
545 S. San Pedro Street
Los Angeles, CA 90013
Executive Director: Dr. XXXXX XXXXX (NNN) NNN-NNNN



Juvenile Site
Los Angeles TenPoint Coalition
c/o West Angeles Church of God in Christ
3045 S. Crenshaw Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90016
Executive Director: Rev. Mark Jennings (NNN) NNN-NNNN


Memphis, TN
Second Chance Ex-Felon Program
444 N. Main Street
Memphis, TN 38105

Second Chance/Ready4Work Program
444 North Main Street
2nd Floor
Memphis, TN 38106
Executive Director: Ms. Yalanda McFadgon (NNN) NNN-NNNN


Milwaukee, WI
Word of Hope Ministries
2677 N. 40th Street
Milwaukee, WI 53210
Executive Director/President: Pastor C.H. McClelland (NNN) NNN-NNNN


New York, NY
Exodus Transitional Community, Inc.
161 East 104th Street
New York, NY 10029
Executive Director: Julio Medina (NNN) NNN-NNNN


Oakland, CA
Allen Temple Housing & Economic Development Corporation XXXXX, C101
Oakland, CA 94621
Executive Director: Mr. XXXXX XXXXX (NNN) NNN-NNNN


Philadelphia
Philadelphia Consensus Group/Search for Common Ground XXXXX NW
Suite 200
Washington, DC 20009
Project Director: XXXXX XXXXX (NNN) NNN-NNNN


Seattle, WA
The Church Council of Greater Seattle XXXXX NE
Seattle, WANNN-NN-NNNN
Executive Director: Mr. XXXXX XXXXX (NNN) NNN-NNNNext. 3913



Washington, DC
East of the River Clergy Police Community Partnership XXXXX S.E.
Washington, DC 20032 (NNN) NNN-NNNN
Executive Director: Rev. Donald L. Isaac


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Osborne Association
Prison, Reentry and Family Services
Ex-Cons Get Help Catching Up to Digital World
www.osborneny.org

FamilyWorks
Parenting education, counseling, Children's Centers, and other services for incarcerated fathers and their children

Family Resource Center
Support and toll-free information hotline for NYS prison families

Family Ties
Services for incarcerated mothers and children at Albion Prison

Safe Landing
Services for people whose mental health has been affected by incarceration

Working Fathers
Helping men being released
from prison to be good
parents to their children

In-Prison Services
HIV counseling and testing,
parenting and health education,
discharge planning

The Osborne Association operates a broad range of treatment, educational, and vocational services for people involved in the adult criminal and juvenile justice systems, including prisoners and former prisoners, their children, and other family members. We serve more than 7,500 people annually in community sites and courts in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, and Manhattan, as well as in city jails and state prisons. Our program models demonstrate that employment and family services, chemical dependency treatment, access to HIV/health care, and constructive and supervised alternatives to incarceration can reduce crime, decrease violence, and address the concerns of victims.

The Osborne Association has 155 staff members and some 40 volunteers, more than 80% of whom are African-American, Caribbean-American, Latino, and Asian, and many of whom are former prisoners, family of prisoners, people in recovery, and people living with HIV/AIDS.

In January 2001, the Osborne Association merged with The South Forty Corporation, the oldest employment organization in New York State exclusively for individuals involved in the criminal justice system, became Osborne's Employment and Training Services that places approximately 1000 men and women into jobs annually.


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It was announced in May of 2005, the Labor Department
awarded $20 million dollars to organizations who
help prisoners get on with their post-prison lives.


:News Article:

Labor Dept. awarding $20M to aid ex-cons
By Jeannine Aversa, AP Economics Writer

WASHINGTON --The Labor Department is awarding nearly $20 million in grants to religious and community groups to help people released from prison find jobs and make their way back into society.

Labor Secretary Elaine Chao announced the grants in an interview with The Associated Press on Tuesday. The money will go to 30 organizations to fund projects in 20 states.

"Everyone deserves a second chance," Chao said.

Job training and placement, mentoring and counseling are among the types of services that the groups will provide to nonviolent ex-offenders, she said. That's defined as an adult who has never been convicted of a violent or sex-related offense.

The department hopes to help some 6,250 released prisoners through the grants, Chao said.

"When ex-offenders return to the community they need help," Chao said. "Faith-based organizations in urban centers -- because they are so much part of the community -- can be of tremendous assistance in reintegrating these ex-offenders back into the community. What we hope will happen is that there will be a holistic approach in helping these ex-offenders."

The grants are being offered through President Bush's prisoner re-entry initiative, which emerged from the president's 2004 State of the Union address. The initiative aims not only to aid ex-prisoners find employment when they return to their communities but also to help urban areas that have large numbers of returning ex-prisoners deal with these challenges.

The grants are the first under this initiative, although the department has previously provided funding to faith-based and community groups in certain areas for "demonstration projects" that offered an array of services to ex-offenders, Chao said.

Approximately 549 applications were submitted to the department for a slice of the grants, which total $19.8 million. Most grants were in the range of around $660,000 a piece.

Recipients include: Metro United Methodist Urban Ministry in San Diego, Calif., $665,935; Odyssey House Louisiana, $684,250; and Goodwill Industries of San Antonio, $663,045.


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Prisoner Reentry

Ready4Work — A Business, Faith, Community & Criminal Justice Partnership

Ready4Work is a three-year, $22.5 million program to assist faith-based and community programs that provide mentoring and other transition services for men and women returning from prison. Ready4Work is jointly funded by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), the U.S. Department of Justice, and a consortium of private foundations.

Spotlight on Exodus Transitional Community

Since 1998, Ready4Work grantee Exodus Transitional Community, Inc. has served over 1,500 men and women returning from prison. According to Executive Director Julio Medina 75 to 80 percent of Exodus participants do not return to prison compared to a national recidivism rate of almost two-thirds.

You can watch a video thish features an actual Ready4Work Participant:
This 10-minute video highlights the Exodus Transitional Community prisoner reentry program in East Harlem, NY. Julio Medina, the Executive Director of Exodus, and his staff help ex-offenders returning to neighborhoods in Harlem rebuild their lives. Exodus is part of the U.S. Department of Labor's Ready4Work Initiative, a $22 million dollar project. Ready4Work served as the model for President Bush's 4-year, $300 million prisoner re-entry initiative announced in his January 20, 2004 State of the Union Address.

President's Reentry Initiative

Information on the President's Re-entry Initiative at doleta.gov