SURJ is pleased to announce that it has received a grant to recruit seven Americorps *VISTA volunteers who will work full-time on prisoner reentry projects at six agencies in the state of Delaware.  Agencies that applied to SURJ for pass-through funding are the Office of the Public Defender of Delaware, the Delaware Center for Justice, The Elizabeth House Family Life Center, Delaware Reentry Consortium, and A Center for Relational Living. SURJ will also receive one VISTA.

Projects at the six agency sites all relate to eradicating poverty and improving prisoner reentry programs.  Work ranges from expanding mentoring services for ex-offenders, to expanding a program for geriatric prisoners, recruiting behavioral coaches for former prisoners who suffer from ADHD, to increasing the capacity and sustainability of organizations that serve ex-offenders.

For the press release on The News Journal’s website, please visit here.

Applications  for the Americorps *VISTA positions are now being accepted, and recruitment will extend into the third week in December.  Volunteer terms are slated to begin in early February following training in Philadelphia.  For more information, including detailed project descriptions and more information on each agency and whom to contact at each site, please submit an email to jchampney@surj.org.