Readout of Second Chance Act Grantee Conference
Acting Assistant Attorney General Brent J. Cohen and Director of the Bureau of Justice Assistance Karhlton F. Moore joined 700 reentry professionals and allied leaders in Philadelphia on December 16-18 for the Second Chance Act Conference: Celebrating 15 Years of the Second Chance Act. During the event, recipients of funding from BJA’s Second Chance Act portfolio of grants gathered to discuss the reentry challenges facing America’s communities and innovations and best practices in the field.
Acting Assistant Attorney General Cohen and BJA Director Moore reflected on the history of the reentry movement, including OJP’s leadership in the space since the late 1990s when the National Institute of Justice first introduced the term “reentry,” and recounted progress since the award of the first Second Chance Act grants in 2009. BJA, the National Reentry Resource Center and the Council of State Governments Justice Center co-costed the conference in collaboration with Impact Justice, the Latino Coalition for Community Leadership and the Center for Health and Justice at Treatment Alternatives for Safe Communities.
“The hundreds of Second Chance Act grants awarded over the last 15 years represent critical investments in life-changing programs,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Cohen. In his remarks, Cohen called for us to seize the opportunity to expand access to higher education presented by the restoration of Pell Grants for incarcerated students and called upon private employers to implement fair chance hiring policies so that people with records can pursue fulfilling professional careers. “Reentry work is life-changing, sometimes lifesaving work, but it happens within a broader societal and systemic context that does not adequately support people who are coming home from incarceration. Collectively, we need to do more — for people who are coming home and for the long-term safety and a stability of our communities.”
Nearly 450,000 people were released from state and federal prisons in 2022, the last full year of recorded data, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics. Millions more are admitted to and released from local jails each year. Individuals returning to their communities continue to face difficult challenges, ranging from housing and health care to obtaining a driver’s license and securing the right to vote.
President George W. Bush signed the Second Chance Act into law on April 9, 2008, paving the way for the first round of Second Chance Act funding the following year. Over the last 15 years, OJP’s Bureau of Justice Assistance and Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention have awarded more than 1,100 grants to support adult and youth reentry programs across the country. Some 400,000 people have received treatment, vocational services, job placement and employment, cognitive behavioral intervention and other critical services as a result. It was noted during the conference that many of the lessons we’ve learned from reentry – about treating underlying behavioral health conditions and opening up education and employment opportunities, among other strategies – should be applied on the front-end to help people who are at-risk for justice system involvement avoid incarceration, altogether.
The themes for the conference were “Building Beyond Recidivism” and celebrating 15 years of progress under the Second Chance Act. Because reentry is complex and touches every community and system, the conference emphasized the need for collaborative approaches to reentry. Sessions incorporated the perspectives and experiences of persons with lived experience, as these individuals play a critical role in the current and future success of reentry efforts. The conference also highlighted the Reentry 2030 initiative and its commitment to a vision of reentry that is human-centered, collaborative, equitable and transparent.
Participation at the Second Chance Act Conference reflected the broad reach and scope of the BJA Second Chance Act portfolio. Representatives from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Guam and six tribal nations convened over the course of two-and-a-half days, participating in seven plenaries, 30 focused workshops and 34 grant-specific breakout sessions to learn from experts in the field and each other about how to make an even bigger impact in their reentry work.
About the Office of Justice Programs
The Office of Justice Programs provides federal leadership, grants, training, technical assistance and other resources to improve the nation’s capacity to prevent and reduce crime; advance equity and fairness in the administration of justice; assist victims; and uphold the rule of law. More information about OJP and its program offices – the Bureau of Justice Assistance, Bureau of Justice Statistics, National Institute of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Office for Victims of Crime and Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering and Tracking (SMART) Office – can be found at OJP.gov.
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