The Sacramento County Day Reporting Center in Sacramento, California recently began offering two new resources that benefit both program participants and staff.
On behalf of program participants, the non-residential reentry center run by GEO Reentry Services recently acquired a room-sized closet filled with donated clothes. A former participant was working at a retail store seeking to give away a large amount of clothes, which led to another participant volunteering to organize an empty room at the DRC as a working closet.
Since then, the closet has become an essential resource for many participants in need of new clothing following health changes, homelessness, or to prepare for prospective employment opportunities, like job interviews. Participants, staff and representatives from Sacramento County Probation continuously add to the closet, which stocks clothes for both men and women, including casual clothes, handbags, shoes and belts.
“Having a clothing resource helps support a successful transition to society by improving self-esteem and making participants employment ready,” said Sacramento DRC Program Manager Shaney Gray. “Being comfortable is important to a participant’s ability to succeed.”
The DRC also recently began offering a new educational resource for staff: a modified version of The Carey Guide’s “Supervisor’s EBP BriefCASE” curriculum. Each of these 18 one-hour sessions addresses a particular tenet of reentry programming delivery, such as accountability, sanctions and rewards, and includes exercises, video and written assignments. During the course, employees are also encouraged to refer to prior case files to illuminate each lesson.
Since completing the curriculum, some staff members have reported increased involvement from participants and attributed this rise in group participation to the BriefCASE’s impact.
“The EBP BriefCASE is a great teaching tool for staff,” Ms. Gray said. “If they can articulate programming better and deliver it in a concise manner, that will help achieve our mission of reducing recidivism and creating positive returns for the community.”
The Sacramento County DRC offers a comprehensive service delivery program offering evidence-based practices designed to change participants’ criminal thinking. Reentry services include individual and group counseling, anger management, life skills, cognitive behavioral treatment, GED preparation, employment services and substance abuse treatment.