It’s a cycle of despair that seems unbreakable. It costs the state more than a billion dollars a year to operate prisons. The financial and intangible impact on the offenders’ futures, their families, the victims of their crimes, and the health of our communities is incalculable.

 

I’m pleased to announce that SFB-CRC will join the battle to help provide hope and break that cycle through a groundbreaking approach to alter the recidivism patterns that all too familiar. The Center for the Future of Arizona brings Arizonans together to create a stronger and brighter future for our state, and the Cycle Breaker Program is one of their innovations, which include education, workforce, as well as civic engagement programs.

 

The Town of Sahuarita’s Economic Development Director Victor Gonzalez approached us a little over a year ago to implement a series of classes that builds in-depth knowledge and skills in the retail industry. There are many career paths within this industry that can provide good earning potential. As we worked with RetailWorks AZ program, the Center for the Future of Arizona approached our former director of the CRC, Roni Singh. Through her hard work while she transitioned back to her home in Canada, Roni worked with the Center and Goodwill of Tucson on the Cycle Breaker Program. The intent of the program is to help create a career path to returning residents so that they can become employed and address many of the challenges they face.

 

The Cycle Breaker Program offers the National Retail Federation’s Rise Up curriculum. When students complete the training, they receive a $250 stipend through the Center for the Future of Arizona. Youth are referred through Adult Probation and Goodwill. They apply to the program, which will continue a minimum of four years, and when accepted are eligible for services. The objective is to provide wrap-around services, including housing assistance, counseling, an education pathway, and job skills training and employment placement so they can take the steps to break cycles of poverty, addiction, and violence. Held at Goodwill locations, the program is completely in step with the mission of our Community Resource Center—to bring support for those seeking to achieve self-sufficiency and well-being.

 

Goodwill is a well-known and highly regarded national organization with many locations in Southern Arizona, and their talented staff works to enhance the dignity and quality of life of individuals and families by strengthening communities, eliminating barriers to opportunity, and helping people in need to reach their full potential through learning and the power of work. They put an emphasis on youth re-entry as part of their employment programs, and work closely with the business community to make that happen.

 

SFB-CRC is proud to be partnering with them and learning from this program so that we can do our part to break the cycle and bring hope to those returning to our communities who want to be better, not bitter.

 

Penny Pestle was involved in criminal justice reform in Grand Rapids, Michigan, as part of The Delta Strategy’s Prisoner Reentry project in 2000-2001, and more recently in Tucson, as an advocate at the Arizona Legislature for the American Friends Service Committee. She believes that the cycle of crime can be broken through robust programming both inside prisons and jails, and upon release.