SACRAMENTO (July 11, 2019) – The Board of State and Community Corrections awarded millions of dollars in rehabilitative grants today, and launched the processes for administering five more.

The Adult Reentry Grant Program appropriated $65 million to 69 community-based organizations to help people transition out of prison by providing support and housing assistance, including help with rent payment and credit repair.

The BSCC had received a total of 161 proposals requesting nearly $205 million in funding over the 42-month cycle of the grant.

The funded proposals include 16 that will be providing nearly $40 million in rental assistance, and 53 totaling $25 million to provide “warm handoff” reentry services, which connect people with resources and support services immediately upon release from prison.

The funded warm-handoff proposals include: $500,000 to the Catalyst Foundation, which will help people at risk of homelessness in the Antelope Valley region; $499,000 to the Inland Empire United Way to provide peer support and a 24-hour call center; and $498,000 to the Men of Valor Academy that will deliver peer support focusing on health, family and employment in Alameda County. A full list of warm-handoff projects is available here.

The funded rental assistance projects include: $3 million to Arsola’s House of Alameda County to provide up to 19 months of  housing to at least 68 people; $2.9 million to Mercy House Living Centers of Orange County to provide housing for 140 formerly incarcerated or homeless people by helping with housing searches and placements, providing incentives to landlords and offering employment support; $2 million to the AMAAD Institute of Los Angeles that is inclusive of the LBGTQ community in offering rental security deposits, stipends and subsidy payments. A full list of rental assistance projects is available here, beginning on page 13 of the Board report attachment to which you will be directed.

Another portion of the Adult Reentry Grant provides $15 million for the rehabilitation of existing properties to provide housing for people released from prison. The Board had required additional time to work through policy, legal and programmatic requirements. Today the Board voted to approve the grantmaking process, appoint Board Members Linda Penner and Francine Tournour as co-chairs, and solicit a scoring panel to read and rate the proposals. Community-based organizations will be allowed to apply for between $3 million and $5 million to rehab existing buildings for housing formerly incarcerated people.

In other action the Board:
Appointed Board Member David Steinhart to serve as chair of the 2019 Youth Reinvestment Grant program and approved recruitment of an Executive Steering Committee that will oversee the grant-development process. The grant, which will have roughly $10 million available, is to fund youth diversion programs that are evidence-based, trauma-informed, culturally relevant and developmentally appropriate.

Appointed Board Member Michael Ertola as chair of the Tribal Youth Diversion Grant program and approved recruitment of an Executive Steering Committee to oversee the grant-development process. The grant provides $10 million for Indian tribes to develop programs to divert young people from the criminal justice system.

Appointed Board Member Andrew Mills as chair of the California Violence Intervention and Prevention Grant Program and approved recruitment of an Executive Steering Committee to oversee development of the $30 million grant. The grant is designed to support programs that focus on violence intervention and prevention.

Appointed Board Member Linda Penner as chair of the Proposition 64 Public Health and Safety Grant program, which will provide tax funding from the sale of marijuana to local governments to help with law enforcement, fire protection and other local programs, including task forces to address illegal cultivation and sale. In its first year the amount is estimated to be $26 million. The Board also approved recruitment of an Executive Steering Committee to oversee development of the grant.

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