HELP FOR WORKING REENTRANTS:

Hamilton County Seeking Transportation Services

2CI's Molly Oliver and Scott Whiting met with Jennifer Armstrong, Director of Supervision Services for Hamilton County Community Corrections (HCCC). Currently almost all the agency's employed reentrants are walking to work, which leads to missing days, being late for shifts, and too often, losing their jobs. We are working with Armstrong to form a vanpool that can take reentrant employees to different job locations in the county, removing the No. 1 barrier to getting and keeping a job, which is lack of affordable and reliable transportation. HCCC is an organization that sees the need and responds. It is already helping nine reentrants to get to their jobs at Park 100 Foods through 2nd Chance Indiana's van program. Our thanks to Jennifer Armstrong and all the caring folks at HCCC.

PHOTO LtoR: 2nd Chance Indiana's Director of Transportation, Molly Oliver; and Hamilton County Community Corrections' Director of Supervision Services, Jennifer Armstrong.

INDIANA DEPT. OF CORRECTIONS

Deputy Commissioner Of Reentry, Christine Blessinger Cares

2nd Chance Indiana's Doug Evans, who spent four decades working in Indiana prisons, and 2CI founder, Jim Cotterill met with IDOC's Deputy Commissioner of Reentry Christine Blessinger. The trio met to discuss organizing a broader coalition of Indiana Department of Corrections (IDOC) personnel to work in concert with 2nd Chance Indiana to improve reentry efforts in the state. That meeting will include a team of the top state reentry execs: Sherm Johnson, Executive Director Offender Employment Development, Carrie Heck, Director of Hoosier Initiative for Re-Entry (HIRE), Katie Kinnaman, Director of Case Management, and others. We are so grateful for this team and the work we may be able to do together. Thank you Christine!

Photo: IDOC Deputy Commissioner of Reentry, Christine Blessinger.

DANGER IN THE STREETS:

IMPD Reports Big Increase in Automatic Weapons

According to the Marion County Prosecutor's Office, statistics from 2023 there was a 263% increase in shooting cases filed involving 'glock switches'. A Glock switch changes a single action handgun into a repeating handgun, like a machine gun, and it is being found in growing numbers on Indianapolis streets. The increase in Glock switches is "astronomical" says Marion county Prosecutor, Ryan Mears. In 2023 111 machine gun cases were filed. Says Mears, "they are so powerful, the chamber of the gun can be emptied with one trigger pull."

The report reveals that users of these guns are "almost always under 24 years of age."Anthony Beverly, Executive Director of 2CI partner, Stop the Violence Indianapolis says, "We've been hearing that all along, but now to have a report with hard data is discouraging." The data reveals that guns are the leading cause of death for young people in Indiana. 

EMPLOYER PARTNER:

US Cold Storage Recognized For Supporting Reentrant Employment

Our great thanks go out to all our employer partners who make it possible to help reentrants get and keep good paying jobs. 2nd Chance Indiana's Molly Oliver presented US Cold Storage Supervisor Jim Spaulding with a framed certificate that says, "In Grateful Recognition of United States Cold Storage for fighting poverty and recidivism by providing second chance employment and economic stability for Indiana reentrants and their families as they seek a better life after incarceration." We could not do our work without the understanding, caring, employers who have joined us to end the cycle of joblessness and re-incarceration. Photo (LtoR) US Cold Supervisor James Spaulding and 2CI's Molly Oliver

EXPANDING POVERTY?

Growing Wage/Cost Gap for Renters In Indiana

According to Out of Reach, a report published jointly by the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) and 2CI partner, Prosperity Indiana, affordable rental homes are out of reach for a growing number of low-wage workers and their families here. 

In just the past year, Indiana wage rates needed to afford a two-bedroom unit rose by 16%, but Indiana’s average wages actually increased by only 7 cents or 0.3% during the same period.

The cost to live in a two bedroom apartment is higher than the average renter wage in 88 of Indiana’s 92 counties and 25 of 26 metro areas. According to the study, Hoosier renter wages remain persistently behind the average of the region. In 2023, the estimated average Hoosier renter wage of $17.92 per hour was $0.78 lower than the $18.70 average across all 12 Midwestern states.

The typical Hoosier renter working full time now makes $1,622 less each year than their average Midwest counterpart, or nearly 1.5 times the cost of a month’s rent for a two-bedroom rental at the fair market rent of $1,148. This study reflects the growing difficulty of our neighbors and friends, as the widening gap between inflation and wages continues to whittle away at the middle class in our state. Read the study, Here!

RETRAIN YOUR BRAIN?

Change Your Thoughts

Change Your Life?

A man who has been in prison for 30 years wrote that he is grateful for the sentence he received because he has been taught to think through cognitive retraining, and is peaceful and happy in spite of his circumstances. Cognitive retraining of some kind has been around since the 70s. The point is to help people become aware of the thoughts and feelings that caused their problems in the past and teach them that by changing their thought processes, they can avoid making the mistakes that caused them to be incarcerated. Sounds too simple? It’s not.

It takes time, but in the end, reframing requires looking at situations from a different point of view. Maybe the viewpoint of the victim, or even the viewpoint of police. Choosing one’s own attitude is indeed a choice, and those who teach cognitive reframing help inmates to see the many possible choices available, to make better decisions in the future, and perhaps to find the peace and happiness reported by others. Read more Here!