County of Santa Clara Office of Reentry Services Awards $6.7 Million in Contract Services

County Board of Supervisors approves services for residents reentering community to increase public safety

SANTA CLARA COUNTY, CALIF. ­—The County of Santa Clara Board of Supervisors approved $6.7 million in contracts this month for services intended to help individuals exiting jail and prison access critical resources such as employment, housing, healthcare, legal assistance and coping skills for rebuilding their lives in the community.

“These investments improve public safety, strengthen families, and reduce our reliance on costly and ineffective mass incarceration,” said County of Santa Clara Supervisor Cindy Chavez, Chair of the Santa Clara County Reentry Network. “This can have a huge impact in helping reentry clients to heal, rejoin their families and become self-sufficient.”

“These services align with the Three-Year Adult Reentry Strategic Implementation Plan approved by the Board on April 23, 2019,” said County Executive Jeffrey V. Smith, M.D., J.D. “We are fortunate to have progressive and collaborative leaders among our Board of Supervisors, County departments, community providers, stakeholders and activists as well as formerly incarcerated individuals and their families. These individuals are working together to build a better system for fostering the healing and empowerment of our residents returning from jail and prison.”

The Office of Reentry Services, which operates the Reentry Resource Center, collaborates with many County of Santa Clara agencies and community-based partners to provide services through the Reentry Resource Center, a one-stop shop connecting clients to resources. Contracts approved for nine community organizations on June 4 and 18 are effective July 1, 2019:

• Pro Bono Project Silicon Valley will provide legal services to address barriers to reentry through informational workshops and/or legal representation related to family law and civil law matters.
• Goodwill of Silicon Valley and Catholic Charities of Santa Clara County will provide comprehensive employment programs including job readiness training, transitional employment, employment connection services, and peer support.
• Goodwill and ConXion to Community will provide an employment services program providing immediate short-term placements, job readiness training, and support services.

• Breakout Prison Outreach, a division of California Youth Outreach; Mental Health Systems Inc.; and San Jose State University Research Foundation will provide case management helping link reentry clients to resources such as housing, mental health services, substance use treatment services, physical health services, peer mentoring, education, legal services, and other resources.
• HealthRight 360 and Carry the Vision will provide life skills and psychosocial programming with evidence-based curricula focusing on client coping, reasoning, social, and problem-solving skills.

“This is a client-centered approach, in which we are building on our experience working with clients and channeling our resources into effective services that best meet their needs,” said Javier Aguirre, Director, Office of Reentry Services. “We are constantly working to improve the County’s reentry infrastructure of services and support.”

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ABOUT THE REENTRY RESOURCE CENTER

The County of Santa Clara Reentry Resource Center opened in San Jose in 2012 and expanded to a second location in Gilroy in 2015. The Centers strive to build safer communities by providing resources to formerly incarcerated individuals and helping them heal and reintegrate back into the community. The Centers collaborate with Community-based entities and State and County Departments such as the Sheriff/Department of Correction, Behavioral Health, Social Services Agency, Adult Probation, Office of the Public Defender, Ambulatory Care, Office of Supportive Housing, Office of Reentry Services, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and faith-based community partners. Representatives of these organizations and departments reside in one building and work collaboratively to provide services to clients. Those services include referrals for mental health and substance use treatment, public benefit enrollment, counseling, health care, record expungement services, employment referrals, housing and shelter information and more.

ABOUT THE COUNTY OF SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA

The County of Santa Clara government serves a diverse, multi-cultural population of 1.9 million residents in Santa Clara County, the fifth largest county in California. With a $7 billion budget, more than 70 agencies/departments and 22,000 employees, the County of Santa Clara plans for the needs of a dynamic community, offers quality services, and promotes a healthy, safe and prosperous community for all. The County provides essential services including public health and environmental protection, medical services through Santa Clara Valley Medical Center (SCVMC) hospitals and clinics, child and adult protection services, homelessness prevention and solutions, roads, parks, libraries, emergency response to disasters, protection of minority communities and those under threat, access to a fair criminal justice system, and scores of other services, particularly for those members of our community in the greatest need.

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Media Contact: Laurel Anderson/Marina Hinestrosa​, Office of Public Affairs, (408) 299-5119; Lynn Madden, Office of Reentry Services, (408) 535-4277.