Wisconsin Going Home Project

The Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Discretionary Grant Program (Reentry) was developed through a federal partnership by the Departments of Justice, Labor, Health and Human Service, Education, Housing and Urban Development, Commerce, Veterans Affairs and Agriculture. The federal partners' goal is to help state and local agencies navigate the complex field of existing state formula and block grants and to assist them in accessing, redeploying and leveraging those resources to support the components of a comprehensive reentry program. In addition to the new funding, the federal partners are identifying funds from their respective agencies that are already available to state and local agencies to provide the necessary services to implement a reentry program. The Reentry Program is designed to provide funding to state and local units of government to develop and implement institutional and community corrections-based offender reentry programs through collaborative partnerships with government, social service, faith-based, and community organizations, in order to reduce recidivism, increase public safety, and successfully reintegrate serious and violent offenders back into the community. Reentry programs are required to partner with a state adult or juvenile correctional agency.

The Wisconsin Department of Corrections, Division of Juvenile Corrections (DJC) has designed this program to help families provide a safe and stable home for youth upon their release from secure confinement. This supplemental funding will provide mental health and substance abuse treatment services for the families of youth, particularly during the time that youth are incarcerated, in anticipation of motivating them to make change in their own behaviors in preparation of their youngster returning home. A small amount of funds would also be used to reimburse parents for the costs of transportation and child care that were necessary for them to receive treatment, if no other resources are available to pay these costs. Treatment modalities will include individual and family therapy, group treatment, and crisis intervention. The final part of the requested expansion is to support the development and delivery of substance abuse and mental health services through multi-family groups. Within multi-family groups, parents and youth (both separately and together) will learn about mental health and substance abuse as they affect family dynamics, and talk about strategies to promote better family relationships and more successful re-entry.

CA/NCF