$500,000 grant will help inmates following release

A $500,000 federal grant will fund programs to help men recently released from prison.

“The grant can help do so much more for so many more,” said Melvin Jones, manager of The Way Home in Millsboro, a transitional home for up to eight men. A smaller home, housing four men, operates in Georgetown.

Paulette Rappa, executive director of The Way Home, applied for the 2018 Second Chance Act grant offered through the U.S. Department of Justice.

She said the grant will fund programs that many inmates start in prison but often can no longer access once they are released.

“When they come out, there's this gap, and that continuum of care is not occurring. There's not a scaffold to hold them up,” Rappa said.

The grant money will be used to hire staff and provide direct services to help former inmates develop workplace skills and receive cognitive behavior therapy. Staff will also manage cases and provide peer mentoring.

“This grant will make sure they have the support necessary for that first year,” she said.

Housing is not permanent, however, Rappa said, and men are expected to move into permanent housing after about eight months.

Georgetown Mayor Bill West said the grant will help many men with the resources they need. With a state prison within the community, he said, the impact on Georgetown is visible.

“When you ride by that jail, and you see a prisoner who has been released, and he's walking up the highway, what's the first town he's going to come to? Georgetown,” he said. “You come out of there in a different frame of mind, and you have to get on your own track … what better way than to have resources like this in the community?”

Rep. Ruth Briggs King, R-Georgetown, said she supports the idea of restoring dignity to those who have been incarcerated.

“That person has been broken down, and we need to build them back to the person they want to be and provide them opportunities so they can return and provide for themselves,” she said.

Lt. Gov. Bethany Hall-Long also applauded the benefits that the grant will bring to Georgetown.

“The prison pipeline is what we are trying to prevent, and we're trying to work with the prison re-entry program,” she said. “We want to make sure people have the wrap-around continuum of care.”