Street Safe Meets in Charlotte
Sub-Committees Begin Looking at Options
AG Roy Cooper - Co-Chair
The 34 member Street Safe committee met on February 25th in Charlotte at the Central Piedmont Community College. The task force is co-chaired by Attorney General Roy Cooper and Department of Correction Secretary, Alvin Keller. Subcommittees began developing recommendations to bring forward to the full group. Alvin Keller - Co-Chair
DOC Secretary
Attorney General Cooper noted that the state budget is particularly tight and asked "What can we do better?" to help non-profits and faith-based groups coordinate reentry work more effectively. Cooper recognized that the Department of Correction can't do everything by themselves and said he was hoping to find ways to "structure the people who care" so they can help.
Any attention to the population re-entering the community after serving time in prison is welcome news. Assistance has long been nearly non-existent for this group. At the same time, it's unlikely that coordination alone - without any additional funding - will provide the boost that is so desperately needed at the local level.
James Gore, Program Officer at the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation, voiced the concerns of many service providers when he said he hoped the committee wouldn't move services to an already under-resourced system. "We don't have the resources to help organizations do these things," he said.
The committee heard from a Mecklenburg County panel, two of whom had been through the reentry experience themselves. They emphasized the importance of allowing current prisoners to see and meet with successful ex-offenders so they can see what might be possible.
Some of the ideas being discussed at the subcommittee level include:
* A provison to "ban the box" which requiring an individual to say if they've ever been convicted of a felony offense.
* A voucher from the system which would verify an offender's educational and/or employment accomplishments within the prison setting.
* Insuring that every offender has a driver's license upon release.
* Establishing a single portal for connecting with services for each person re-entering the community.
* Developing a system to insure that the system has addressed any pending charges while an offender is incarcerated.
* Overcoming barriers to finding housing upon release.
* Increasing opportunities for "on the job" work experience for those returning to the community.
The next meeting of the Street Safe committee will be held on April 22. The location has not been set.
