New Jersey Association on Correction

2011-2012 Annual Report

Helping People with a Past...

….Build a Future

Dear NJAC Supporters, We were reminded once again of the selfless service of our dedicated staff during Hurricane Sandy. Despite a historic weather wallop, our associates did an outstanding job of keeping our residents safe during the crisis. We are both deeply grateful for their devotion to duty. A wallop of a different sort occurred earlier this year and continues to impact our work. A New York Times series that was largely critical (and inaccurate) of one of New Jersey's halfway house providers was published and created something of a firestorm. Even though the articles dealt with one particular contractor, the entire community corrections system has been affected. Other media outlets picked up on the story; committees in the state Legislature held hearings; bills and audits have been proposed; and all purportedly to deal with the issues raised. The New Jersey Association on Correction recognizes the need for change and welcomes mean-ingful reform. While certain individuals may view this as an opportunity to fulfill their agenda of ending the use of community corrections, we see this as our chance to explain the value of our projects, as well as the unique contribution community corrections programs make to the betterment of individuals and the restora-tion of society. Despite the fact that our ideas seem to go in and out of vogue, NJAC has always held the view that social jus-tice must be holistic. Crime must be prevented. Victims must be healed. Communities must be restored. Of-fenders must be repaired. Prisons must be reformed. Alternative sanctions must be preferred. The formerly incarcerated must be assisted in re-entering and contributing positively to society. Whether the economy is reported to be doing well or poorly, things are never easy for either our clients or for NJAC. The Gross National Product (GNP) is an irrelevance if you're poor and/or a crime victim and/or trying to build a new life after incarceration. Funding is always difficult to secure, and if monies for our projects are cut less than anticipated, we consider ourselves lucky. When we see the Evening of Hope Annual Dinner; Walk A Mile In Her Shoes; local restaurants sharing their evening's proceeds with our domestic violence programs; as well as other ways in which NJAC and its neighbors give to each other, we know that we've facilitated people's generosity. Equally unique for NJAC is our understanding that, in addition to the vital work of providing direct services to those in need, we also provide staff support to help shape public policies to improve the environment for our clients. Through our Public Education and Policy Director and the New Jerseyans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (NJADP), there has been progress made in securing legislative passage of measures to assist crime victims, exonerees, domestic violence and sexual assault victims, and people living in poverty or with HIV/AIDS. NJADP has produced, and is now distributing, the only statewide listing of services for surviving relatives of homicide victims and other people experiencing traumatic grief. Even in tough times, NJAC has always found a way to begin new projects and we welcome them aboard while we continue to take pride in our on-going programs. As we look forward to a new year, we are ever grateful to our contributors, Board of Trustees, staff, and funders.

Sincerely, Dr. Charley Flint & Angel Perez Board President Executive Director

Our Mission is to promote social justice and human dignity in the policies and institutions which govern offenders and victims of crime through educational,

legislative, and rehabilitative programs.

NJAC envisions a world of social equity and the development of just laws that are impartially applied to all people. NJAC believes that though many people are negatively impacted by social inequities, they have the capacity to make changes in their lives, given the tools and supports needed.

NJAC Board of Trustees

Charley B. Flint, President Matthew J. Sheridan, Vice President

Eric Jackson, Treasurer Lisa King, Secretary

Dianne Scott-Bey Robert Garot

Milagros Collazo Melanie S. Griffin

Lisa L. Miller, Ph.D Pat McKernan, MSW, LSW

Dr. Lesly R. Devereaux, J.D., M.Div. Dorothy Moote

NJAC Administrative Directors and Staff

Angel M. Perez, Executive Director Diane Hobbs, Fiscal Director

Ed Martone, Director of Public Education and Policy

Lee Watkins, Director of Administrative Services

Mike Ashe, Director of Information Technology

Linda Dandridge, Grants Manager

Regional Directors

Sheila Trapp Helena Tomé

December 2nd, 2011

AIDS: Out of Sight...Out of Mind..

Guest Speaker Paula Toynton, Senior Director of Education, Prevention, and Treatment, Hyacinth AIDS Foundation

MVP Award Recipients

Bonita Christmas Richard Johnston

Anat Joseph Harriet Rembert

John Hunter Clarence Carmichael

Wallace Morris Anaitias Lantigua Christina Reamer

2 Year Service Awards

Noreen Sherwood Ronald Sherman

Nancy Alvarado-Martinez Tiffany Chavis Brianna Marte Caprice Rose Angela Byers

Philadelphia Shipman Denise Harper

Shelisa Thomas DeShonnda Rudolph

Anabel Pacheco John Williams Giva Simmons

Clarence Carmichael Marie Snow

Robert Dixon Elija Muhammad

5 Year Service Awards

Michael Ashe Shayna M. Brown Shauna A. Horton

Sadiq A. Muhammad Frank Gerald

Jose A. Couloote Bernadette Maull

Lynn Teal Alberta Pinnick-Stratford

Alexander Pearson Rhonda Horton

10 Year Service Awards

Diane Hobbs Helenda D. Lewis

Harriet L. Rembert

15 Year Service Award

Margaret McDonald

20 Year Service Award

Kathleen Dennis

Sandra Vauters Award

Lawrence Petta

Volunteer of The Year Award

Gloucester Township Recreation Department

Table to Table

An Evening of Hope October 24, 2012 Celebrating Camden County Women’s Center’s 10th anniversary. Carolyn Skalko was recognized as Volunteer of the Decade and Beth Hastings was recognized with the Distinguished Service Award. The event featured a dessert buf-fet and raffles for donated prizes.

Walk a Mile in Her Shoes October 13, 2012 The Passaic County Women’s Center hosted its second annual fundraising and awareness event in which approximately 100 par-ticipants showed their support for PCWC, inspired by the old saying “You can’t really under-stand another person’s experi-ence until you’ve walked a mile in their shoes”. Male partici-pants literally walked one mile in women’s high heeled shoes. It is not easy walking in these shoes, but it’s fun and allows the com-munity to talk about gender re-lations and sexual violence.

PCWC Dine & Donate May 17, 2012 Held at T.G.I.Friday’s in Clifton, NJ, this event was at-tended by PCWC administration and staff along with their families and friends. Anyone dining at T.G.I.Friday’s that evening who submitted an event flyer to their server had 20% of their bill donated to PCWC.

Since its founding, the New Jersey Association on Correction has dedicated many of its efforts toward educating government officials, the media, and the general public on the importance and benefits of al-ternatives to incarceration, penal reform, prisoner re-entry programs, as well as providing substantive assistance to people living with HIV/AIDS, and/or in poverty, along with victims of sexual assault, do-mestic violence, and other crimes. Most often, this involves advocating for proposals pending before state and local elected representatives on behalf of these populations. There has been recent movement on legislation that NJAC and the Innocence Project has been pushing for a few years that would increase compensation for individuals who have wrongfully been imprisoned. It has passed in the state Senate 34-2-4 and is presently in the Assembly. Through the work of the Association's New Jerseyans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (NJADP), we have seen substantial improvements in policies that affect crime victims and surviving relatives of homicide victims. In 2012, four bills the Association lobbied for were enacted. These included proposals permitting some crime victims more time to file a claim and to receive more assistance from the NJ Vic-tims of Crime Compensation Office (VCCO); an expansion of the Crime Victims' Bill of Rights; shifting unclaimed restitution payments collected by the New Jersey Department of Corrections, from the state Treasury to the VCCO; and a prohibition of the public circulation of photos of crime or accident victims by First Responders without the victim's, or his/her families', permission. There has been committee action on a number of domestic violence (DV) bills that NJAC is supporting, including legislation for electronic monitoring of certain repeat DV offenders; providing up to twenty days of unpaid leave time for employees who are DV or sexual assault victims; and a waiver of tuition costs for a DV victim for the interrupted semester. The NJADP has compiled, and is now distributing, a listing of state, regional, and county services for surviving relatives of homicide victims. Legislation is also moving to increase the minimum wage; expand the state's needle exchange program; and require that prisoners be counted during the population survey as residents of their sending munici-pality, rather than as occupants of the lock up facility they are in at the time the Census is being con-ducted. Also among the many public pol-icy initiatives already being advo-cated for by NJAC, the approval of same-gender marriage has been added. Earlier in the year, the NJAC Board of Trustees unani-mously adopted a Resolution urg-ing the state Legislature and Gov-ernor to enact a bill to recognize gay marriages. NJAC will be an active partner in the 2013 effort to add New Jersey to the list of states already acknowledging and supporting those relationships.

Thank you to our funders. It is with their generous support that we are able to continue providing quality

programs in the state of New Jersey.

ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICE OF THE COURTS - ISP CAMDEN COUNTY

Camden County Welfare Department of Health and Human Services

Department of Economic and Workforce Development - Community Development Block Grant (CDBG)

FUND FOR NEW JERSEY IOLTA FUND OF THE BAR OF NEW JERSEY

MIDDLESEX COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES - FREE-HOLDER SUPPORT GRANT

NEW JERSEY COALITION FOR BATTERED WOMEN/ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON FOUNDATION

NEW JERSEY DEPARTMENT OF CHILDREN & FAMILIES (DCF) NEW JERSEY DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNITY AFFAIRS (DCA)

CSBG Program Division on Women

Sexual Assault Services Formula Grant Program Shelter Support

Women’s Shelter Grant NEW JERSEY DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS

NEW JERSEY DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH & SENIOR SERVICES NEW JERSEY DEPARTMENT OF LAW & PUBLIC SAFETY

VAWA VOCA VAG

NEW JERSEY STATE PAROLE BOARD PASSAIC COUNTY

Department of Human Services Passaic County Welfare TIDES FOUNDATION

UNITED WAY OF CAMDEN COUNTY WELLS FARGO BANK

WILLIAM PATERSON UNIVERSITY

Passaic County Women’s Center Shelter Offers temporary emergency services to victims of domestic violence and their children.

Passaic County Women’s Transitional Housing Provides transitional services to victims of domestic violence and their children.

Passaic County Women’s Center Outreach Provides non-residential services to victims of domestic violence. Passaic County Women’s Center PALS (Peace A Learned Solution) Provides services for children ages 4-12 who have been exposed to domestic violence, either as victims or witnesses.

Camden County Women’s Center Shelter Offers temporary emergency services to victims of domestic violence and their children. Camden County Women’s Center Outreach Provides non-residential services to victims of domestic violence. Camden County Women’s Center PALS (Peace: A Learned Solution) Provides services for children ages 4-12 who have been exposed to domestic violence, either as victims or witnesses.

Correctional AIDS Project Provides counseling and discharge planning to HIV positive inmates that are being paroled or maxing out of Correctional Facilities in NJ.

Winifred Canright House A 12-18 month residential program in Asbury Park that assists up to twenty men with disabilities recover from addiction, improve their health care, and stabilize in the community.

Middlesex County Resource Center A walk-in center in New Brunswick that assists offenders and ex-offenders with meeting emergency needs, becoming productive citizens, and stabilizing in the community.

Camden Scattered Sites A subsidized permanent housing program for ten families with at least one HIV-positive resident.

Jennie’s Place A permanent residential program for women with special needs in Newark.

Clinton House Offers up to forty pre-release men the opportunity to serve the final months prior to their parole in a com-munity setting in Trenton.

Millicent Fenwick House A fifty bed residential pre-release program in Paterson that assists many women with a history of sub-stance abuse and/or domestic violence with positive reintegration back into the community through activi-ties that reduce their recidivism.

Broughton House A thirty bed residential pre-release program in Newark that assists men with special needs with positive reintegration back into the community through activities that reduce their recidivism.

Sanford Bates House A twenty bed residential program in New Brunswick that assists male homeless parolees with positive re-integration back into the community.

Specialized Re-Entry Program For Women A sixteen bed residential program in Newark that assists female parolees with positive reintegration back into the community.

For more information, write or call the New Jersey

Association on Correction:

986 South Broad Street Trenton, NJ 08611

P: 609-396-8900 F: 609-396-8999

Or visit us online at: www.njaconline.org

Helping People with a Past Build a Future

NJAC Philosophy Statement

NJAC believes that although individuals are sometimes caught in circum-stances beyond their control, they are capable of making changes in their lives and being redirected to more positive behaviors when provided with the tools necessary to do so. We also believe that people are best served in a respectful and dignified manner in the community, rather than in an institutional set-

ting, in order to reach their highest potential for independent living.