Zak Stone Photo
Trent Butler served 14 years in prison before cleaning up his life, graduating from college, and starting a community group. He said that he wants to be at the table when the city decides how to divvy up funds earmarked for programs to help former prisoners reenter society.
He’ll have his chance to apply for a piece of that money this year when the city kicks off a new set of services for ex-offenders.
Butler and around 20 neighborhood activists gathered at Thursday evening at the Celentano School on Canner Street to learn about these programs. New Haven Reentry Coordinator Amy Meek and former state legislator Bill Dyson, who lead the New Haven Reentry Roundtable discussion meeting, fielded questions about the new reentry programs.
Meek will help coordinate the Housing Authority of New Haven’s pilot program to pick 12 former prisoners and elevate them to priority spots on the public housing waiting list. In the past, ex-offenders were ineligible for spots in public housing. Click here for a back story.
Meek also will oversee the allocation of $38,000 worth of mini-grants for organizations working on reentry issues in four areas: substance abused, peer mentoring, employment and education, and mental health. The money is intended specifically for small, grass-roots organizations, where it will make “a huge impact,” she said. The city will issue a request for proposals by the end of next week.
Butler, who founded a peer mentoring organization with 501(c)(3) status, said that the city needs “people at the table affected by the streets, by criminals, by selling drugs” to help decide what to do with the money. “Who but me [an ex-offender] knows what ex-offenders need and want?”
Meek and Dyson encouraged Butler and other meeting attendants to apply for the grants, spread the word to local community groups, and urge ex-offenders from the neighborhood to apply for the waiting list spots.
Meek said that the 12 spots, approved only last week, have “already gotten a huge response.” The pre-application process is just getting started and will ask applicants to submit basic information about employment, education, disabilities, and parole she said.
Meek (pictured below) said that the chosen 12 will be placed above everyone else on the waiting list except for those who face domestic crises and require immediate transferring, like victims of domestic violence. She said that this new policy will give ex-offenders who have “rebuilt their lives” a chance for newfound stability after years of “bouncing around” from apartment to apartment due to restrictions on public housing.
While meeting attendants were largely supportive of the new measures, a few expressed concerns about reentry problems that might not necessarily be solved by this new program . Former Dixwell Alderwoman Mae Ola Riddick mentioned that she knows of many female ex-offenders, including her daughter, who were released from jail in the middle of the night and dropped off by the New Haven Health Department at 54 Meadow St.
She said that she has talked to many women who did not have any money for the bus to get home and had to panhandle as a result.
Ward 20 Democratic Co-Chair Barry Fuqua, who once worked in the prison system, confirmed Reddick’s concerns. He said that New Haven is a “conduit point” for prisoner drop-offs. For female prisoners at the end of their sentences, “there’s one bus that leaves [the prison] and there’s one conduit point at 54 Meadow St.”
Reddick intends to open a welcome center for these female prisoners on George Street in the Fall so that they do not resort to illegal activity, she said.