Brandywine Counseling and Community Services (BCCS) is proud to be awarded a grant that will allow us to provide services to fifty juveniles per year who are preparing for release from juvenile detention facilities, and are judged to be at high risk to re-offend. Under the program, a BCCS case worker will begin working with targeted juveniles thirty days before release, and continue working with the juveniles after release to ensure that they are re-enrolled in school, receive job training and opportunities, and appropriate health care. The grant of $150,000 will pay for the costs of the program for two years.
Select non-profit organizations have received a total of $2 million to help juvenile and adult Delawareans successfully re-enter the community after completing prison sentences. The program was designed by the Delaware Department of Justice and the Delaware Criminal Justice Council, and is the largest state investment in community-based re-entry programs in at least a decade. The funds were awarded to the non-profit organizations by the Criminal Justice Council through a competitive grant process. The grants are divided between larger grants of up to $150,000, targeted at more established non-profit organizations, and smaller grants targeted at new or small non-profits.
“BCCS is well-equipped to reshape how we prepare to assist adjudicated youth,” said BCCS CEO, Dr. Lynn Fahey in a Delaware.gov article detailing the historic investment in community-based prisoner re-entry programs. “This grant will allow us to implement best practices, but also develop a new approach to integrating juveniles back into society. Our goal is help these youth focus on personal responsibility and growth. Everyone at BCCS believes in second chances and this grant provides us with the opportunity to prove it.”