Program participants and staff at the Dauphin County Reentry Service Center in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania participated in Second Chance Month, a national initiative celebrated each spring to help eliminate the barriers to employment and housing faced by former offenders.
In support of this initiative, Dauphin RSC Program Manager Jacqueline Schap and RSC staff designed T-shirts for RSC participants to wear which read: “I may have failed in the past. I am not a failure, for I will succeed today.”
Established in 2017, the Second Chance Month initiative is led by Prison Fellowship, the country’s largest nonprofit serving prisoners, former prisoners and their families. This year, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf endorsed the event statewide, and the White House issued a proclamation endorsing it nationally.
The Dauphin County RSC’s work reflects the mission of Second Chance Month year-round, as RSC staff help formerly incarcerated individuals reintegrate into their local communities and make a productive return to society.
“We are committed to delivering evidence-based reentry programming to help participants who are transitioning to the community with workforce development and other tools they need to establish a successful start,” said Ms. Schap.
The Dauphin RSC is a non-residential reentry center run by GEO Reentry Services delivering evidence-based treatment with a focus on workforce development. The program provides Moral Reconation Therapy, life skills, and other reentry services based on Cognitive Behavioral Treatment and equips participants with skills and resources to prepare them for a new beginning upon program completion.
Despite the pandemic, the Dauphin RSC has done much over the past year to help participants secure good paying jobs. In 2020, the center recorded an 85% participant employment rate, an increase over 2019.