Second Chance Month Events
Updated: Apr 5
April is Second Chance Month! We like to take this month to highlight the opportunities available for returning individuals in Marion County, as well as a plethora of educational webinars that come from national organizations during this time. Please check out these upcoming re-entry webinars and in-person events happening this month (click each title to expand the description):
Housing Financing Basics for Criminal Justice Partners
Wednesday, April 5th @ 1pm ET
This event will present key housing financing strategies and models to expand housing opportunities for people who have been involved in the criminal justice system. The webinar will focus on helping criminal justice stakeholders understand these concepts and build meaningful partnerships with the housing sector. Presenters from the CSG Justice Center and the Urban Institute will lead a panel discussion featuring sites from Lane County, OR, and New York, NY, that have successfully built cross-sector partnerships and created new housing for this population. Speakers will preview an upcoming brief on the topic.
Enhancing Community Supervision through use of Evidence-based Practices: Preparing Supervision Staff to Advance Behavior Change
Tuesday, April 11th @ 3pm ET
This webinar will review a variety of research-based tools community supervision agencies have adopted over the past years – including the use of a risk and needs assessment, motivational interviewing, cognitive intervention practices, case management, and graduated responses – that supports shifting participants to seeing themselves as coaches of behavior change rather than simply monitors of compliance. The webinar will explore how community supervision practitioners can obtain skills to improve client-staff interactions and use evidence-based tools such as case plans and cognitive behavioral interventions to effectively coach youth towards long-term behavior change. Participants will leave this session with the tools to create a plan to implement a similar structure.
Increasing Affordable Housing Access for People with Conviction Histories
Monday, April 17th @ 1pm ET
The Vera Institute of Justice is hosting a webinar highlighting state housing finance agencies’ efforts to increase housing access for people with conviction histories. Hear from the Ohio Housing Finance Agency, the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority, the Louisiana Housing Corporation, and the Louisiana Fair Housing Action Center as they discuss different strategies implemented and partners engaged to remove barriers and increase housing opportunities. There will be an opportunity to engage with the panelists and ask questions.
We welcome housing finance agencies, advocates, policymakers, organizers, fair housing centers, people with lived experience with the criminal legal system, and anyone interested in increasing housing access for people with conviction histories. We look forward to having you!
If you have any questions about the event, please contact Lisa Tencer at ltencer@vera.org.
Focusing on Reentry Housing and Family Engagement in Collaborative, Comprehensive Case Plans
Tuesday, April 18th @ 3pm ET
This webinar will showcase updates to the Collaborative Comprehensive Case Plans web tool, which offers guidance and case studies on integrating critical behavioral health and criminogenic risk and needs information into comprehensive case plans that actively engage the participant and reflect a balanced and collaborative partnership between criminal justice and social service systems. The tool’s new content focuses on considerations for family support and housing services in case planning. Webinar speakers will include representatives from Second Chance Act grantee Old Pueblo Community Services in Pima County, AZ, who are featured in the tool as an example of having a specialized housing provider as a lead case planner. Speakers will share lessons from their experience implementing this approach.
Second Chance INDY Job & Resource Fair
Wednesday, April 19 @ 9am - 12pm ET
Martin University 2186 North Sherman Drive Indianapolis, IN 46218
Do you need a great job? Would you like some help finding resources for your family like healthcare, social services, legal assistance and more?
This JOB AND RESOURCE FAIR is a one-stop shop connecting you to FIFTY employers and resource providers who want to help YOU!
Preparing Justice-Impacted People for Infrastructure Jobs
Wednesday, April 19th @ 2pm ET
This webinar will showcase three 2021 Second Chance Act grantees and their connections to up-to-date infrastructure-oriented career and technical education and career pathways. The Vera Institute of Justice will host three grantees, including Building Futures in Rhode Island and its building trades pre-apprenticeship; Oregon Department of Corrections and its big machines mobile training lab; and the Oklahoma Department of Career and Technical Education and their job training centers and credential pathways in Certified Production Technician, Welding, and Commercial Driver's License.
Promoting Reentry for Young Adults: Perspectives from the Field
Thursday, April 20th @ 3pm ET
This webinar will showcase updates to the Collaborative Comprehensive Case Plans web tool, which offers guidance and case studies on integrating critical behavioral health and criminogenic risk and needs information into comprehensive case plans that actively engage the participant and reflect a balanced and collaborative partnership between criminal justice and social service systems. The tool’s new content focuses on considerations for family support and housing services in case planning. Webinar speakers will include representatives from Second Chance Act grantee Old Pueblo Community Services in Pima County, AZ, who are featured in the tool as an example of having a specialized housing provider as a lead case planner. Speakers will share lessons from their experience implementing this approach.
Look Beyond Recidivism: How to Capture Your Reentry Program's Impact
Thursday, April 20th @ 3pm ET
This webinar will discuss how relying only on recidivism to measure reentry program or participant success only tells part of the story. The webinar will support reentry program staff and evaluators in identifying the best outcomes to measure and will review strategies and resources for capturing those outcomes. It will also showcase one Second Chance Act grantee's efforts to measure program outcomes using a broad set of measures.
Harnessing the Power of Video for Reentry Program Branding and Sustainability
Thursday, April 27th @ 3pm ET
This webinar will discuss why, when, and how to produce short videos for branding and sustaining your reentry program. The webinar will discuss how video production can support reentry program goals, will showcase the experience of a Second Chance Act grantee, and will guide participants in how to develop and execute a video production plan and most effectively share the finished product with its intended audience.
If you have anything you would like to promote about re-entry this month, email us at info@communitysolutionsinc.net.