Light of Christ (LOC) Family Services was awarded a $500,000 federal grant to provide comprehensive re-entry services for people returning to their communities after incarceration, with the goal of preventing recidivism, reducing crime and improving public safety. The participants of “The Changing Lanes Project” must be enrolled prior to their release from incarceration. The award is a part of the 2018 Second Chance Act grant program funded and administered by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs (OJP).

As a 2018 Second Chance Act grantee, LOC Family Services will provide pre and post-release services to individuals who are at medium to high-risk of reoffending in Buckingham, Cumberland, Charlotte Court House, Dillwyn, Lunenburg, Nottoway, and Prince Edward localities. Additional services will include case management, peer to peer support, transportation assistance and support, nutrition services, clinical outpatient services for the individuals and their families and family reunification. The LOC Family Services will work closely with the National Reentry Resource Center — the nation’s primary source of information and guidance on re-entry — throughout the planning and implementation of the grant program.

Evangelist Shelley Mays-Couch, licensed clinical social worker, Co-Covener of the Planning District 14 Reentry Council and a graduate of Longwood University and Virginia Commonwealth University is the Program Director, Teresa Green is the Assistant Program Director. Board members are Anthony Couch, Sharon Mays, Willie Drakeford, Michael Collins, Shaquilla Brown and Wanda Flood. “We believe that it takes a community to strengthen a family and a family to raise productive citizens,” officials cited in the release.

The Second Chance Act Comprehensive Community Based Adult Reentry Program supports organizations and tribal communities that provide comprehensive re-entry services to program participants throughout the transition from jail or prison to the community, including implementing or expanding re-entry programs that have strong partnerships with corrections, parole, probation, and law enforcement agencies, as well as other re-entry service providers.

LOC Family Services is solution-focused and seeks to reduce recidivism, help to mend broken families, increase safer communities and help individuals released from incarceration develop core skills through case management, clinical therapy and peer to peer sponsorship to become not only productive citizens in their communities but to also become re-established members of value in their families.

Second Chance Act grants support state, local, and tribal governments and nonprofit organizations in their work to reduce recidivism and improve outcomes for people returning to their communities from state and federal prisons, local jails, and juvenile facilities. Since 2009, more than 840 awards have been made to grantees across 49 states, which have served an estimated 164,000 people to date.

To learn more about the Second Chance Act visit NationalReentryResourceCenter.org.