Saving the Children of Prisoners

What happens to the children of parents who are in prison?  There are more than 85,000 children with parents in New York State prisons; 12,000 have a mother who is incarcerated.
There are also young people who are either incarcerated themselves or who have just been released.  After being release, many just drift.  More than half are rearrested within nine months of their release.

Mentoring Program

The Community Service Society, through its Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP), is planning a program of mentoring relationships for these youth.  The goal is to provide a positive role model in the lives of these “at-risk” young people.  These initiatives will be conducted in collaboration with organizations that already have mentoring programs in existence.

The mission of the mentoring program for children with incarcerated parents is to build the academic confidence and social skills of children ages 11 to 16.  The idea is to emphasize the strengths of these young people and to build on those strengths by setting and achieving youth identified goals. 

Young people who
need support

The need is great.  A survey of the children of incarcerated parents found that the likelihood of their ending up in prison is between two and six times the average for young people.  In some cases, we see three generations in the same family who serve time in prison.

A recent report (PDF) published by the Community Service Society revealed that more than 170,000 young New Yorkers – ages 16 to 24 – are neither in the work force nor in school.  They are disconnected from any structure that could lead to a successful future.  The highest rates of incarcerated residents in New York City are in low-income black and Latino neighborhoods.  Amongst this population are formerly incarcerated youth ages 18 to 21 who eventually return to these neighborhoods.  What sort of life awaits them after their release?

In the program of planned reentry for incarcerated young people, CSS is partnering with the Getting Out and Staying Out Program at Rikers Island.  Mentoring relationships will begin inside Rikers and continue when the youth reenter the community.  Getting Out and Staying Out is a program with a career and education focus designed to help incarcerated and formerly incarcerated young men ages 18 to 21 in order to reduce their rate of recidivism.

A Second Chance

This is, in effect, a “second chance” program.  Participants in the Getting Out and Staying Out Program must attend Horizon Academy, an alternative high school for 16 and 17-years-olds at Rikers.  The idea is to draw up a plan for reentry while providing ongoing support for youth both inside and after their release.  These volunteers will receive training from both RSVP and Department of Corrections personnel.

CSS is also partnering with Uth Turn, a community organization that provides an intervention and prevention program helping at-risk youth.  It focuses on rebuilding families.  RSVP mentors will focus on developing the academic and social skills of youth ages 13 to 18. 

For the initial training of mentors, RSVP is looking for 30 to 60 volunteers aged 55 and older who will act as mentors for at least a year.  We want volunteers who can share their experiences, skills, and wisdom accumulated over their lives with young people.  The program will need many male volunteers, especially for the work with incarcerated youth, all of whom are young men.

All too often we see or read about tragedies involving the lives of young people and wonder what can be done to prevent them.  This is an opportunity to have a direct impact on the life of someone who has just begun to live.  Adolescence is often a time of making mistakes.  These are young people who need support, who need someone to fill a void in their lives.       

If you are 55 years of age or older and are interested in becoming a mentor, CSS is holding orientation sessions on May 15 and May 31 to discuss the program.  To register for one of our orientation sessions, or to learn more about other volunteer opportunities, please call Gajtana Simonovki at 212-614-5563 or e-mail gsimonovski@cssny.org.

From the New York Amsterdam News
May 4 - 10, 2006