Additional funding provides for extenuation of job training, workforce development and other supportive re-entry services
Washington, D.C. – Today Senators Arlen Specter and Bob Casey announced that the Department of Labor (DOL) has awarded Connection Training Services in Philadelphia $500,000 in additional funding to continue prisoner reentry programs through the Reintegration of Ex-Offenders Initiative. Connection Training Services has already received $2.4 million from the Recovery Act for their programs, bringing the total to nearly $3 million.
Connection Training Services in Philadelphia provides a variety of programs designed to ensure economic and social sustainability to disadvantaged communities within the city. Participants in the reentry programs engage in various job training, skills remediation, counseling and mentoring all directed toward self-sufficiency and betterment of community.
“As ex-offenders rejoin the workforce it is important they receive the proper tools for success,” Senator Specter said. “I am pleased that Connection Training Services received this grant so they may continue to provide these vital reentry services which greatly benefit both the individual and the community.”
“Organizations like Connection Training Services provide invaluable services to help ex-offenders rejoin the workforce,” said Senator Casey. “By awarding Connection Training Services Recovery Act funds, we can help them provide reentry services such as job training, skills remediation, counseling and mentoring.”
In 2008, the Labor Department held a limited competition among 30 existing first-generation grants and subsequently funded 24 of the 30 grants for a fourth year of program funding and operation. This additional fifth year funding is part of a larger grant awarded by DOL for $12 million to the 24 programs participating in reentry programs through the Reintegration of Ex-Offenders Initiative.
These programs operate in conjunction with grants from the U.S. Department of Justice, which provides funding to state criminal justice agencies that offer pre-release and referral services to soon-to-be released offenders.
Visit http://www.doleta.gov for more information on the Department of Labor employment and training programs and initiatives.
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