ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Lehigh County commissioners are working on a partnership that could improve the way people are able to enter the workforce after they are released from prison.
Lehigh County Director of Corrections Janine Donate said the benefit of the plan would be that it would link those preparing to get out of prison with workforce training and career opportunities before they are released.
- A proposed program that would help individuals recently released from prison to obtain, and maintain, employment would cost $650,000 over three years
- The county Department of Corrections expects about 150 individuals to take part in the program
- After release, an individual would be monitored for a year to ensure he or she maintains employment and could then mentor others
“Having how to fill out an application or resume, computer skills, all of the things that someone needs to be prepared and ready for the employment world upon reentry, obviously begins before they get out,” Donate said.
Commissioners laid out a proposal for the plan last week and are expected to vote on the proposal at its next meeting.
It would call for a partnership between the county and the Lehigh Valley Workforce Investment Board that would begin if the proposal were approved by the commissioners.
The program would run through November 2025 and could be extended an additional year if it proves successful.
It would cost a total of $650,000 — broken down to $250,000 the first year and $200,000 each year after — from the county’s American Rescue Plan Act funds.
But that funding could help scores of individuals get work, Donate said.
“Over the course of the next couple years we hope to ultimately serve, collectively, over 150 inmates,” she said.
The funds would allow the partnership to set aside a room at Lehigh County Jail to be a computer room with equipment that could provide job-training.
"This is something that we believe will be really important."Lehigh County General Services Director Rick Molchany
Individuals who are part of this program would then, with the support of the corrections department, be followed for a year in the community after their release to ensure they can stay employed and avoid re-offending.
Every year the workforce board would provide the board of commissioners with a report on successes, as well.
During a preliminary discussion on the proposal, County Commissioner Bob Elbich said he liked the idea, but wondered if the individuals involved could be monitored for a longer time.
“Sure would have been nice to have a program that followed these folks over a period of several or a couple of years at least two or three, to see how the recidivism level has been reduced and what impact the program had,” he said. “But I really do think this is a good first start.”
And, according to Joe Welsh, executive director of the Lehigh Valley Justice Institute, the program is something he believes could really help people rebuild their lives.
“There would be a physical presence in the jail to work with residents of the jail before they are released,” Welsh said. “This is something that we’ve really been pushing on, to have this seamless re-entry process.”
He also noted that the program would let the individuals who take part in the program to then become mentors to those who go through the program in subsequent years.
Lehigh County General Services Director Rick Molchany said that would set up a “continuance of service” that would let the program to build on its successes.
“This is something that we believe will be really important,” Molchany said.
