Community Listening Forum Toolkit: Make Your Voice Heard!
This step-by-step guide includes everthing you need to host a succesful Community Listening Forum. Learn more...
Recovery Advocacy Toolkit: Making Our Voices Count
includes media outreach templates, event organizing “how-to” materials and many other resources. Learn more…
|
eNewsletter - January 27, 2009
Take Action: Support funding for the Second Chance Act
Next week, Congress will begin working on the funding or appropriations bills for fiscal year 2010, which begins on October 1, 2009. Last year Congress passed The Second Chance Act. This year we will need to work to secure funds for these important new programs. The House and Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on the Department of Justice will be making recommendations to Congress about funding for Second Chance Act programs.
WHAT YOU CAN DO: If your Senators and/or Representative is a member of the Appropriations Subcommittee on the Department of Justice, contact them today! (Check out the list of subcommittee members below). You can email them using the form on their web site by clicking on their name below.
Personalize this sample letter and copy and paste it into the form on their web site. NOTE: Some members will only accept email from their constituents. If you have trouble using the form, you can mail or FAX your letter.
Dear Senator/Representative [INSERT NAME],
I am writing to ask that you support funding for the Second Chance Act for FY 2010. The Second Chance Act was enacted with overwhelming bipartisan support and will help our community better help the growing number of people returning from prisons and jails without adequate support, many of whom are still struggling with alcohol and other drug problems.
The growth in the numbers of people who are in prison is driven in part by the high rate of reincarceration of individuals with criminal records, whether due to the commission of new crimes or violations of probation or parole conditions. In 2007, 725,000 individuals were released from state and federal prisons, an increase of 20 percent from 2000. Research suggests that, without support, half will be reincarcerated within three years. In a recent report, The Pew Charitable Trusts estimated that, if current growth rates continue, state and federal prisons will grow by 13 percent by 2013, adding more than 192,000 prisoners at a cost of $27.5 billion. However, when individuals returning from prison are able to access the services they need to rebuild their lives – including education and job training, employment and housing services, substance abuse and mental health treatment, and mentoring programs – the families and communities they return to are stronger and safer.
[Describe what’s going on and what you would like to see happen in your community here]
By providing the resources needed to coordinate reentry services and policies at the state and local level, the Second Chance Act ensures that the tax dollars spent on corrections do not simply fuel a revolving door in and out of prison. State and local governments around the country, as well as community and faith-based organizations, are excited to leverage federal funding to launch public-private reentry partnerships. Please make the Second Chance Act one of your priorities for FY 2010. If I can provide any more information about the program or the work we are doing in our community, please let me know.
Sincerely,
Your name and organization