The NetWork Opens New Guest House
The NetWork for Better Futures celebrated our new guest house located on Emerson and Broadway in North Minneapolis. The guest house offers men immediate stable, safe housing and helps build and support a culture of meaningful relationships and a vibrant community.  |
The NetWork Fuels Personal Transformation
Last month, The NetWork celebrated the largest number of men completing the necessary course hours ever - 16 participants - from Personal Empowerment training. This training is taught over 16 weeks, and participants learn tools and techniques that help them regulate their emotions, think about their way of thinking, and facilitate personal transformation.
All men received a $50 gift card for achieving this important milestone towards NetWork membership. Ten men also received a Twin Cities Rise! certificate for attending 75% of course sessions. In order to achieve NetWork membership, participants must meet an ambitious set of goals including obtaining full-time employment outside The NetWork and securing a lease in their name. Great work! |
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Better Futures Enterprises
Better Futures Enterprises (BFE) provides quality supervised work crews and waste diversion services to businesses, public agencies, and homeowners at a competitive price. Better Futures also collects, processes, and then recycles or reuses appliances, books, plastics, household goods, and building materials. Our social enterprise creates jobs and generates multiple benefits for society and the environment:
- All earned income is reinvested in our mission-focused business;
- Working men pay taxes and support their families; and,
- Our innovative lines of business divert hundreds of tons of materials from landfills.
To learn more visit networkforbetterfutures.com. |
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Warehouse Sale October 29 - November 2
 Better Futures Enterprise (BFE) is hosting a warehouse sale this week. We are selling a wide range of household goods and building materials! All sale items were harvested from buildings slated for demolition or diverted from landfills.
Here are a few of the items that will be available to purchase in house or online.
 
 
If you have questions regarding the sale please contact Brad Krause at 612-860-9826 or bkrause@betterfutures.net.
If you have home or building materials that you would like to deconstruct rather than demolish, or if you are a contractor or homeowner and want to reduce the amount of reusable materials placed in dumpsters, call Tim Hanson at 612-718-6089 or thanson@betterfutures.net. |
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The Costly Impact of Technical Violations
Returning to prison for a technical violation of a release condition is one of the most common, disruptive events in the lives of our men. Technical violations include missing an appointment with a community corrections agent or probation officer, failing a drug test, and possessing drugs or alcohol but does not include committing a new crime. We are committed to being trusted and reliable partners with the community corrections system and we are working with this system to develop cost effective enforcement alternatives. Men must be held accountable for complying with their release conditions and, in some cases, technical violators need to be reincarcerated to protect public safety. In many cases, however, appropriate sanctions can be applied in the community thus avoiding the costly return to prison and the disruption of work and community life. In many ways, the structure and supports of The NetWork provide a solid alternative to prison for most technical violators.
To document the cost and impact of sending technical violators back to prison or jail, we analyzed the fiscal, economic, and social costs of 36 NetWork participants who violated their release conditions and were sent back to prison. These 36 men were among the 162 men enrolled and served by The NetWork over an eighteen month period, January 2011 through June 2012. Using data provided by the state and Hennepin County, we estimate that it cost nearly $600,000 to reincarcerate these 36 men. This estimate does not include the costs of police and other public safety staff involved with serving warrants and arresting the men nor the staff costs associated with processing the violation. Along with these fiscal costs, there were social and economic losses. At the time of their violation, 34 of these 36 men were living in stable housing, 21 were employed or in school, and 9 were paying child support.
The great majority of these men (72%) were engaged in The NetWork for less than 90 days which reinforces our belief that The NetWork's holistic set of opportunities and integrated care can reduce return to prison rates significantly once a man has settled into our community, established meaningful relationships, and started working.
The following reports describe current practices for managing violations and the significant economic, fiscal and social costs of sending violators back to prison.
Study: Prisons Failing to Deter Repeat Criminals in 41 states. April 2011.
The PEW Center on the States: State of Recidivism, The Revolving Door of Americas Prisons. April 2011.
The PEW Center on the States: When Offenders Break the Rules, Smart Responses to Parole and Probation Violations. November 2007.
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Better Futures Enterprises (BFE) YTD Results
Employment is one of our core fundamentals in assisting NetWork participants. Here are our employment and revenue generated results for BFE YTD:
- 98 NetWork men have been employed by BFE
- $371,000 revenue generated by BFE
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The NetWork Inspires Entrepreneurs
Through The NetWork's partnership with Project for Pride and Living (PPL), Shomari Bowens (a NetWork participant since 2010) received a grant from PPL to help him start a carpentry business. Bowens was intent on starting his own business since he enrolled with The NetWork and funding from PPL is making his ambitious plan a reality. He has purchased tools and registered his business. Launching his own business is yet another achievement for Bowens. He recently began paying full rent for his apartment at a PPL property. The rent for his unit was previously subsidized by The NetWork while he secured stable employment and saved a modest amount of money. The NetWork's housing subsidy and supports help men transition to paying full rent over a two year period.
In an interview with PPL, Bowen talked about his perspective on becoming an independent business man. "There are numerous challenges, first of all having the heart, the guts. Knowing that you're not depending on anyone else, means you're going to work, and build up the capital to start whatever it is you're doing, but you have to trust yourself. You really have to be confident in yourself and be willing to take whatever losses in order to get things established from the inside out. Working to get things stable on the inside rather than paying attention to how they appear on the outside."
We are proud of Shomari and wish him much success as he embarks on his journey to fulfill his entrepreneurial goals. |
| Thank you Northwest Area Foundation!
The Northwest Area Foundation awarded The NetWork $95,000 to help support our job creation and job training in the recycling industry.
Their support will help The NetWork grow and strengthen our business model and support the aspirations of our workers. |
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