Boston will distribute $1 million in grants to organizations that provide services for people leaving prisons and jails, part of an effort to help formerly incarcerated people live stable lives, Mayor Michelle Wu announced Tuesday morning.
The money will be split among 35 organizations. Nearly all of it — 80 percent — will go to 29 organizations led by people of color or formerly incarcerated people. More than 3,000 people exit incarceration each year in Boston according to the Office of Returning Citizens.
“Wrapping around our returning citizens with programming and services is vital to ensuring formerly incarcerated individuals are able to return to their lives and community successfully,” Wu said in a statement.
Among the organizations is Justice 4 Housing, an organization that advocates for ending the incarceration of women and girls and works with formerly incarcerated people to find stable housing.
“Stable housing is the most crucial resource to promoting public safety, public health and circumventing recidivism,” Leslie Credle, the organization’s founder and executive director, said in a statement. “I am living proof that housing is the gateway to a successful reentry. Our programs have provided permanent housing and legal advocacy support for over 100 formerly incarcerated people in our communities.”
José Massó, Boston's chief of Human Services, said the highest grant amounts of $60,000 were given to four organizations. Massó said nearly 60 organizations applied for grants and the city hoped that spreading small grants evenly would help build a "collective network" of grassroots providers for the future. He said the city recognizes services are needed to support people even before they exit prison.
"As a city agency... partnering with these organizations definitely does allow us to do that," Massó said.
Dorchester-based New Beginnings Reentry Services, which runs a 10-bed residential program for women coming out of state and federal prison, received a $60,000 grant. It was among a group of organizations made up of returning citizens who wrote to the city in mid-February saying the ORC's grant process disadvantaged smaller community-lead organizations with crucial "lived experience." The organizations said that smaller organizations, especially those led by people typically excluded because of their race or gender, often don’t have business advisors or grant writers to help them navigate the process.
Founder Stacey Borden, who is Black and herself exited prison 13 years ago, said it took her two years to set up the residential program, and she continues to struggle to pay expenses, including insurance and salary for employees. She welcomed the grant funding, but said smaller organizations led by people of color, and which have "direct experience" with the populations they are helping, will need further support and alliances with the city to continue their work.
"It's all just trying to connect. How do you handle community? You're got to create these allies, right?" Borden said.
Baystate Reentry Network, which works exclusively to help men and women who have been previously convicted of a sex offense and have to register upon their release, received a $10,000 grant. Executive Director Bill Canavan said helping formerly incarerated people ultimately helps everyone in society.
"The cost of someone being homeless, the cost of someone being incarcerated, the cost of someone going through the court system, the assignment of counsel, the judges, the jury, transportation. It goes on and on," Canavan said, "There are so many hidden costs to crime that I believe, anyway, all taxpayers should be interested in."
