Cambria County Reentry Service Center recently celebrated its 5-year anniversary with an open house for local law enforcement and corrections officials. The center opened in 2012, and since then, more than 300 participants have successfully completed the program.
Currently, the program serves 72 participants who are referred from county probation, state parole or the judiciary.
“We’re proud to have hit the five-year mark serving the local community,” Julie Boring, program manager, said of the anniversary. “It’s rewarding to work with local correctional officials and help individuals make the most of a second chance to regain their footing in the community.”
The center provides a structured combination of cognitive behavioral treatment, training, case management and community connections to help participants break the cycle of recidivism. The center also helps participants focus on independent life in the community with employment skills and connections to local educational opportunities.
A reporter from the local newspaper, the Tribune-Democrat, attended the open house and wrote a feature on the event. As noted in the article, each participant, upon entering the program, is assessed to evaluate their needs before determining which classes, treatment or counseling can help them move forward.
Kirsten Gamber, former director of the center and now the county’s chief of adult probation, told the paper that the center is a “one-stop shop” for resources offenders may need, from mental health treatment to job search assistance to drug and alcohol counseling.
The success of the center was chronicled in a previous Tribune-Democrat story. A study found that an average person entering Cambria County’s program had a 78.3 percent chance of reoffending, while that number reduced to 45 percent after completion of the day-reporting program.
Read more about GEO Reentry’s approach to non-residential reentry.