In recognition of Second Chance Month, youth development centers across North Carolina highlighted the theme of reentry this month, hosting a series of real-world simulations designed to teach youth in their care the realities of adult life – from selecting a career to maintaining a balanced budget.
Second chances are important for both adults and juveniles who have been involved in the criminal justice system. One way the Division of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention helps to prepare juveniles to reenter their home communities is the Reentry to Resilience (R2R) model, created from a pilot project between the DJJDP, Communities in Schools NC, and RTI International.
With new COVID-19 cases on the decline, prisons providing vaccinations to all incarcerated individuals who want the vaccine; and vaccines now widely available in communities across the state; the N.C. Department of Public Safety is wrapping up a project that provided quarantine space to recently released offenders who may have been exposed to COVID-19 prior to release. This group would have otherwise been homeless or didn’t have a stable home to go to following completion of their sentences.
After making choices in life that led to prison sentences, participants in the Think Smart Program are sharing their stories with youth across North Carolina to convince them to avoid the same mistakes.
Governor Roy Cooper proclaimed this week as Reentry Week. Supporting incarcerated and supervised individuals as they successfully reenter their communities has been a major point of emphasis in 2019, with events including the state’s first annual Reentry Summit held in Greensboro in March.