New Program Aids Transition From Prison To Productivity
DETROIT (WWJ) - A new grant is allowing some homeless to get off the street and into a new apartment.
For at least 105 days, 52-year-old Jennifer Jones has been drug and alcohol free reports WWJ's Pat Sweeting.
Jones is among the first four homeless ex-offenders to earn a new apartment as part of her recovery.
She says she was surprised, grateful and excited to know she had been selected:
"When I got out of jail, I got caught up being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and I got tired of being tired and ran and asked for some help," said Jones.
Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano sees the program as helping these individuals break a cycle that could land them back
in trouble.
"If you come out of an institution - either jail or prison - it's twice as hard really to try to find a job and so this is a way to try to merge them into the community and give them a quality of life," said Ficano. "It comes down to - if you give them an opportunity with dignity and respect and they feel that it's there ... they're going to put a lot more effort into trying to make their way into the community."
A $200,000 grant through Wayne County is funding the rental apartments of the Detroit Recovery Project program (Tennant Based Recovery Rental Support Housing) that will initially place 30 ex-offenders into new housing.
All had been homeless but are working to put their lives back together.
The Detroit Recovery Project encourages those seeking recovery, to achieve and maintain long-term recovery, and live productive, drug-free lifestyles.