Coming Home: A Resource Directory for Ex-Offenders Returning to Massachusetts Communities
The Crime and Justice Institute was recently awarded a grant from the Gardiner Howland Shaw Foundation to assume management, production and distribution responsibilities for the “Coming Home” Resource Directory. The initiative focuses on (a) producing and updating a thorough directory of agencies, services and programs in the greater Boston area that assist ex-offenders as they transition from incarceration to the community, (b) distributing the directory to various entities including ex-offenders, corrections facilities, community agencies and other interested parties, and (c) maintaining a website that provides the same information.
Through this initiative, CJI will:
- Update the directory annually through outreach to existing organizations and programs, and to services and programs not in the directory whose presence in the directory would be helpful to users.
- Conduct dissemination and outreach efforts to expand the users of the directory to include all organizations identified in the directory, state agencies that interact with ex-offenders, their families or other interested parties, community organizations, and institutions where public service information is generally available.
- Work with state agencies, through EOPSS and its departments and the appropriate sheriffs’ departments, to integrate the Directory into the reentry planning process.
The long-term plan for the Resource Directory is to expand it to include other urban centers with high offender populations, eventually making it statewide and/or creating a directory for each urban center with a need for connecting returning ex-offenders with the community. Funding for this expansion will be developed over time through sources other than the Gardiner Howland Shaw Foundation including community foundations in areas that will benefit from the directory. Further information about this project is available at www.cominghomedirectory.org. A copy of the Directory can be obtained by downloading the PDF version on the website or completing the form on the website for a hardcopy.
