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Monday, June 08, 2015

NorCo Gets $500,000 To Help Inmates Find Jobs

Flanked by Nancy Dischinat on the left, and John brown and Bob Werner on the right,
Corrections Director Dan Keen announces $500,000 Grant For Mini Career Center at jail.
Yes, he is one big dude. 
Over nine million people are released from county jails every year with dim prospects for a job. In some cases, they lack even a basic form of identification. "With no ID, you can't even cash a check," observed Northampton County Corrections Director Dan Keen. Under circumstances like these, it's little wonder that many released inmates soon find themselves back behind bars. The United States Department of Labor is trying to change that statistic. It has invested $10 million into 20 communities throughout 14 states, in an attempt to close the revolving door at county and local jails. Northampton County and the Lehigh Valley Workforce Investment Board will receive $500,000 to help inmates find jobs as they are released. Labor Secretary Thomas E. Perez calls this series of grants "a commonsense approach that strengthens communities and improves public safety at the same time."

Statewide, Montgomery County and its Workforce Investment Board will also receive a $500,000 grant.

Nancy Dischinat, who is the Executive Director at the Workforce Investment Board, cobbled together the grant application with Keen. "This is so cool!" she exclaimed at a recent news conference announcing the award.. Acknowledging that there are "serious barriers," she nevertheless insisted that "the jobs are going to be there. It's all about jobs. It's all about putting people to work."

The grant will fund a staff of four people from the Workforce Investment Board, inside the jail. establishing individual plans over the next two years. Keen stated inmates can be trained to drive forklifts or receive SafeServe certifications from the restaurant industry. Those programs used to exist at the jail, according to long-time corrections officers.

This program will be available for up to 212 inmates at any one time in a jail with a population of about 689. The goal is to keep released inmates from returning.

According to Keen, each inmate costs the County about $36,000 a year.

Dischinat, who hopes to have a program up and running within the next four to six months, stated there will be a sustainability plan in place to determine whether the program is really working. If it does, Executive John Brown said he would ask Council to support funding the program after the grant expires.

Victor Schmidt, President of the 950-member Lehigh valley Chapter of the Society for Professional Human Resource Management, explained that the grant effectively creates a "mini career center" inside the jail. "We will be helping to find the jobs and support the training," he promised.

The award was also praised by Council member Bob Werner, who called it a positive sign.
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8 comments:

  1. AnonymousJune 8, 2015 at 8:07 AM

    Brownstain a bleeding heart liberal? Hell he looks real confident as he poses for his photo shoot and supports this program. He even vows to lobby for support from his Republican council "if" this pilot program shows any signs of success. Love it, Brownstain being a Brown nose again! Wasted money is Allen on the County payroll.

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  2. AnonymousJune 8, 2015 at 9:30 AM

    They should use the program to find another job for Brownstain.

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  3. AnonymousJune 8, 2015 at 10:43 AM

    The "Brownstain" commenting guy should really get of this site and try performing some actual work for the pay he's stealing from county taxpayers. Is it any surprise the goldbricks are the loudest and most persistent whiners? No. We all know jerks like this. It's why most people think so little of government workers. The few bad ones give all the rest a bad reputation.

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  4. AnonymousJune 8, 2015 at 11:08 AM

    @10:43 There is no evidence at all that the two comments before yours are from the same person, or county employees. Sorry - your brand of blatantly stupid isn't spoken here.

    Brownstain is a perfect term for this idiot. If you think only county employees see and are affected by this fool and his incompetent adminstration, you are very sadly mistaken. Citizens and voters are talking, and they don't like what they see in our "leader" - very much the same as what council members of both parties are seeing. We'll correct our mistake as soon as we can.

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  5. AnonymousJune 8, 2015 at 11:34 AM

    The comments are identical. The faulty construction is identical and screams county goldbrick. Do some work you shiftless, dishonest time thief. No wonder taxpayers think so little of you.

    ReplyDelete
  6. AnonymousJune 8, 2015 at 3:35 PM

    The "Brownstain" comments are obviously the work on a disgruntled employee. Most county residents want the bloated government reduced. Also the people like that he and county council have instituted term limits on all these lifelong politicians. The days of Grucela and Seyfried are over.

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  7. AnonymousJune 8, 2015 at 6:25 PM

    YAWNING>>>>>>>>awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww after a long day at work I will add my comments that BROWNSTAIN deserves this title. No I am not a county worker or a retiree, just a voter that is fed up with the Brownstain antics of the past, present and future. Bloated government is Cathy Allen still employed and Many other Brownstain followers. Do not drink the BROWN Kool AID..........Scomillio did and look where it got him,,,forced to resign because of embarrassment and a brownstain backpack for his happy trails.

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  8. AnonymousJune 8, 2015 at 6:27 PM

    This type of program makes too much sense to have come from the brownstain admin. And for the comments above, there are ony about 21 county workers who are'nt disgruntled you read their names on this blog. His administration is a disaster.

    ReplyDelete

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