Former inmate-turned-entrepreneur Anthony Forrest is both an exception and an exemplar. Recently returned home after spending time at San Quentin State Prison, he has launched a small business of his own, thereby further improving his chances for success and for having a positive impact on his community. Hes also part of a national shift that is reversing the trend of three decades of mass incarceration. Each year California releases about 60,000 people from state prisons, not including those who are re-paroled after being sent back to prison for violating parole. As one of roughly 6,000 people who return to the East Bay each year, Forrest faced low odds of success. Statewide, 61% of people released in 2010 had re-offended and gone back to prison by 2013. Over the past two decades, the states recidivism rate has fluctuated between 60% and 80%. But as one of the first eight graduates of an innovative reentry program called Pathways to Resilience, a collaboration between seven Oakland-based organizations, Forrest had a significant advantage over other returning citizens. And thanks to the program Planting Justice, Forrest had a job, making $17.50 an hour, when he got out of prison. Forrest praised the founders of Planting Justice, crediting them with his renewed determination to succeed. They are all about help and change and thats all there is to it, he said. Typically, people released from prison encounter numerous roadblocks when it comes to locating housing, forming new relationships, breaking with past associations and activities, finding treatment for addiction, dealing with poverty, and attempting to land a job in a world in which many people view them as incompetents or worse. Pathways to Resilience is one of several model reentry programs in Oakland that have attracted attention from around the country over the past few years. The city has been at the forefront of creating innovative programs designed to help formerly incarcerated individuals gain job skills, find employment and housing, and avoid being sent back to prison.
Posted on: Fri, 18 Jul 2014 13:59:51 +0000
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