Thomas MacMillan File Photo
A familiar face has returned to City Hall, to run New Haven government’s prison reentry program.
Clifton Graves (pictured) began running the program, Operation Fresh Start, last week. (Click here for more on the program.)
Graves, 61, a 2011 mayoral candidate, used to work for the city as an attorney in the corporation counsel’s office.
In addition to coordinating the work that community agencies from Project MORE to Easter Seals do on behalf of people leaving prison and returning to New Haven, Graves said, he will oversee a mentoring program for offenders to begin six months to a year before their release.
The job currently pays $50,000 a year, out of federal block-grant money. Graves said the administration has made a commitment to “aggressively ” seek more money for the position as well as for outreach efforts.
An estimated 100 people reenter New Haven from jail each month. Easing their transition has emerged as central public-policy goal.
Click here for a story about the short-lived previous occupant of the job.