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                                            May 2014

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Locked Up in America:
Two raw, explosive films that explore America's fixation on incarceration


On April 22 and 29, 2014 the PBS Frontline series featured two documentaries about the reality of incarceration in America.  The first documentary is about solitary confinement and the second is about the state of prisons in America.  The second film gives a true look into the many obstacles that our clients face when they are releasing from jail and prison.  There are also a number of articles available on the PBS site about incarceration and reentry.  The videos and articles featured in "Locked Up in America" can be found HERE.


Wall of Fame
20 clients now featured in our Wall of Fame

The past few months have been pretty busy here at OAR.  We have had lots of new clients coming in for services and we have had lots of clients obtaining full- and part-time jobs.  We have verified the following numbers: March 16 full-time and 2 part-time jobs; April 8 full-time and 7 part-time; and so far in May we have verified 10 full-time jobs!
 
Every day our case managers are verifying employment for clients and enrolling clients in our Job Retention Incentive program. Each time a client earns an incentive, we take their picture and put it on display to celebrate their success. Be sure to follow the success stories on our website.

OAR Director included in Mark 
Holmberg's Report April 29

For his April 29th report, Mark Holmberg set out to answer the question: Is it fair to lose your license over certain crimes?  Mark contacted our Director, John Baumann, to ask about OAR's stance on this very question.  You can watch the video which shows a lawyer's perspective, OAR's thoughts (how hard it is for our clients that have lost their license), and the perspective of a young gentleman that lost his license over a drug charge.  You can watch the report HERE.
Restoration of Rights in Virginia                           

Gov. Terry McAuliffe announced in April that he will shrink the time violent felons must wait to seek reinstatement of their voting rights and will remove some offenses from that list.  The policy took effect on April 21 and comes on top of years of work to streamline the process.  It aims to make the system easier to understand and to allow more felons to petition the state more quickly.  In a series of changes to the state's restoration of rights process, McAuliffe wants to collapse the application waiting period from five to three years for people convicted of violent felonies and others that require a waiting period, and to remove drug offenses from that list.  

 

The Sentencing Project currently estimates that there are 350,000 Virginians prohibited from voting.  More information on Restoration of Rights in Virginia can be found HERE or HERE.

Transition News:

With the retirement last August of Executive Director Barbara Slayden, the OAR Board decided to hire John Baumann specifically to help OAR through this transition in executive leadership.  The use of transition (or professional interim) executive directors is becoming more common in the nonprofit sector.  For the Board, it creates an opportunity to review the agency's strategic direction and think about community needs and how they coincide with OAR's strengths.  That thinking, in turn, informs what kind of permanent Executive Director the Board will seek for the coming years.

 

What have we been doing during this transition period?  Click HERE to read more...

 


OAR of Richmond, Inc.
(804) 643-2746



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