By Erin James
The York Dispatch
YORK, Pa. — A York City nonprofit has partnered with the state Department of Corrections to offer a menu of services to York County residents recently released from prison and at risk for recidivism.
The Crispus Attucks Re-Entry Project, a “day reporting center” at 506 S. George St., will open soon.
“There’s nothing like this in York,” said Raquel Lilly, a programs manager at Crispus Attucks.
Various groups already offer services to offenders who need mentoring, life-skills classes or support groups.
This is different because the government, which is funding the program through the corrections department, will have the ability to oversee the program and track clients’ progress.
Parole and probation officers will refer clients - both men and women - to the center in an attempt to help them avoid slipping back into the prison system.
There is no limit to the number of people the Re-Entry Project can serve, as the state will pay a per diem rate based on the number of clients enrolled, Lilly said.
Crispus Attucks has a contract with the corrections department but is waiting for a final green light to proceed, she said.
Members of the nonprofit’s staff announced the creation of the Re-Entry Project at a breakfast meeting Friday attended by York City Council members, a county commissioner and other local leaders.
The center’s menu of services includes job training, addiction recovery support, basic computer training, Internet access, resume building, classes on anger management and domestic violence and more.
“We want to give them the opportunity to live a free and productive life,” Lilly said.
The program will be administered by Siafa Dennis, a former Baltimore City police officer and military police officer, and Greg Smith, who also retired from the military before heading a job-training program at the Community Progress Council.
Several years ago, the corrections department began partnering with private agencies that operated day reporting centers, said Traci Jacobson, a regional director for the department.
It didn’t always go well, she said. Because the centers weren’t funded by the state, the department had no oversight authority, she said.
“The concept is a good concept, but we need to have some oversight of it,” Jacobson said.
Earlier this year, the department solicited ideas for similar partnerships. Crispus Attucks’ proposal was one of several the department liked and decided to fund.
Day reporting centers offer the department an alternative to sending people who violate their parole or probation to jail or halfway houses, Jacobson said.
“They have to have the need, and the risk has to be there,” she said.