PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Philadelphia’s Division of Reentry — part of the Office of Public Safety — opened a new neighborhood resource center in North Philadelphia on Wednesday, part of the city’s ongoing focus on programs designed to help Philadelphians rejoin the community after serving prison time.
Mayor Cherelle Parker joined legislators and social workers at One Day at a Time Recovery Services on the 2500 block of North Broad Street to open the doors on a facility focused on helping rehabilitate former prisoners and their families.
“We're expanding access to opportunities supporting successful reentry and helping to reduce recidivism,” said Parker.
Assata Thomas, the division’s executive director, said the opening was a moment to highlight their work.
“We are building a system, one that believes in people and understands that when we get reentry right, we get public safety right,” she said. “Let me be clear, reentry is not charity. It is good and smart public safety.”
According to Thomas, the first center, on Venango Street in the city’s Nicetown section, has helped more than 3,000 Philadelphians and has connected 325 people to same-day pay jobs.
“If you look at same day with work and pay, we've connected a hundreds of people to long term or permanent training or permanent jobs just this past year,” said Atif Bostic, CEO of Uplift Solutions, a nonprofit that works with at-risk youth.
Thomas also said more than 400 Philadelphians have been able to use it to complete probation and parole visits remotely. Parker said that feature is important, to make sure people can complete those visits without missing work and risking job loss.
“You would normally have to stop to go somewhere,” she said, “but if you have access to the technology, you can meet them right where you are and still be on time for work.”
