Worcester Youth Re-Entry Project - 2014 Report
Straight Ahead Ministries (SAM) – Worcester Youth Re-Entry Project (WYRP):
Straight Ahead Ministries (SAM), headquartered in Worcester, MA, has been serving juvenile offenders
for 27 years across the United States in approximately 400 lock-up facilities and serving
over 25,000 youth to date.
Our Worcester Youth Re-Entry Project (WYRP) offers kids in local gangs and those exiting the juvenile
justice system opportunities to move away from gang life and develop the skills necessary to become
productive citizens. Through our Youth Re-Entry Project we offer mentoring, educational opportunities
including GED, art and music classes and college enrollment, life skills development, case management,
community outreach, family support services, and our job readiness program called Straight2Work.
Worcester Youth Re-Entry Project (WYRP) Overview:
The Worcester Re-Entry Project (WYRP) serves youth, ages 16-24, who have been incarcerated by the
Mass. Dept. of Youth Services and who are returning to the Worcester Community. WYRP provides a
positive peer environment with professional case management staff and trained volunteers providing
the best in re-entry services for youth. Built around these relationships are many activities: job
training, GED/HISET classes, entrepreneurship training, community service, recreation, leadership
training and group and individual counseling. This gradually leads to a transformation: youth who once
had nothing to lose, not even their lives, become invested in society and their community, by virtue of
new skills, new social ties, and new visions of the future. Youth establish new identities as productive
members of the society.
Worcester Youth Re-Entry Project (WYRP) Objectives:
The WYRP goal is to help juvenile and young adult offenders transform their lives and outlooks, set and
pursue concrete goals, and contribute to their communities and peers. These are project objectives:
1. To recruit 120 eligible young adults in Worcester, nearly all referred by juvenile facilities (i.e. Mass.
Dept. of Youth Services) or, in a few cases, adult correction agencies (i.e. Worcester House of
Correction) and to begin to engage and support most before they are released back to the
community.
2. To use drop-in times, street-work, recreation activities, and youth leadership to establish a presence
in the community, enabling youth to comfortably engage in the YRP and in a positive peer milieu.
3. To create mentoring and support relationships for each participant with strong, understanding,
caring adult staff and volunteers who we train and support.
4. To foster positive peer influence among participants, providing mutual support, leadership and skills
training, and an alternative to gang membership, both within and outside of the program.
5. To offer youth an array of educational, vocational, cultural, and social skill-building opportunities.
6. To maintain an extensive set of partnerships to help participants to progress in school and/or
employment and to access benefits, resources, opportunities, health care, and support services.
7. To evaluate project process and outcomes to improve the program model and cost-effectiveness and
to use SAM’s affiliates and partners to disseminate and replicate the model in other communities.
Worcester Youth Re-Entry Project (WYRP) Accomplishments:
Key accomplishments for the overall WYRP program include:
1. WYRP achieved its objective of increasing the number of youth served. We served a total of 141
youth in 2014, including 81 who received intensive case management on a regular basis and 40
others who took part in various activities and services. All of these youth were previously
incarcerated in juvenile or adult facilities and the great majority had been involved in gangs.
2. WYRP joined the Worcester Safe and Successful Youth Initiative coalition convened in response
to a state initiative. WYRP is an integral partner and subcontractor, based especially on our
direct relationships with the target population of gang-involved and otherwise very high-risk
youth. The coalition includes schools, youth programs, and law enforcement. The Worcester
SSYI coalition funds WYRP to serve as the link between youth coming out of lock-up and various
3. WYRP collaborated with all SSYI partners, including the Worcester Public Schools, YMCA,
Worcester Youth Center, Mosaic Cultural Complex, Boys and Girls Club, Iglesia Cristiana de la
Comunidad, and Worcester Community Action Council.
4. WYRP offered a summer basketball league for rival gangs. The league ran successfully and
without incident, providing a healthy activity and reducing tensions. Overall we served 63 youth
in this 8 week league.
5. We opened a satellite site in Great Brook Valley to expand our reach to youth and young adults
who cannot make it our main site. Currently we are serving 88 youth in our outreach services
throughout the City of Worcester.
6. We continued our community partner programs including ESL, substance abuse recovery
groups, job readiness training, Boy Scouts, church services, and music lessons, all offered at our
headquarters on 791 Main St, Worcester, MA.
7. A total of 42 WYRP participants, primarily gang-involved youth, who are leaving the juvenile
justice system and re-integrating in the community, enrolled in our Straight2Work job readiness
training program. The majority of them went on to secure permanent employment in the
community.
8. The New You resale store, located at 785 Main St, adjacent to Straight Up Café & Community
Center, employed 15 Straight2Work participants.
9. Straight Up Café and Straight Up Catering, which employ participants in our Straight2Work
program, expanded with the installation of a commercial grade kitchen, allowing us to employ
more youth, provide a better context to teach employability skills and increase our catering
business. Together, these businesses employed 23 participants in 2014.
10. Straight Ahead Building Maintenance, which employs participants in our Straight2Work to tend
to building maintenance and cleaning throughout the facility, employed 2 participants.
11. WYRP established a partnership with LUK Crisis Center of Worcester, to provide on-site
individual and group counseling for our youth.
12. WYRP increased coordination with, and expanded referrals from, the Worcester House of
Correction. Young adults transitioning out of the House of Correction accounted for about a
third of our total population in 2014.
13. WYRP established a partnership with the Commonwealth Corp. and DYS in the AIM mentoring
program. Within this partnership, we provided mentoring and/or job readiness training for 12
youth transitioning from DYS facilities to the community.
14. Our Director of Outcomes and Evaluation implemented Social Solutions’ Efforts-to-Outcomes
(ETO), a custom, online solution, working with YRP staff to expand and streamline data
collection and analysis. This allowed us to see and measure the impact of particular programs or
program elements in real-time.
15. The recidivism rate for WYRP youth was 12% in 2014, compared with 68% generally found for
similar populations, as reported by the Anne E Casey Foundation.
Straight2Work Business Ventures:
Straight Up Café is a neighborhood café located in the heart of the Main South community in Worcester,
MA. The Café, operated by youth in the Straight2Work program, serves locally roasted, free trade
coffee and signature menu items. The Café also hosts open mic nights, art contests, peer group
meetings, recreational events and small venue concerts.
Straight Up Catering is located in a state-of-the-art catering kitchen on the mezzanine level of Straight
Up Café. Straight2Work participants help develop menus and prepare and deliver catering orders to
clients in Worcester and surrounding communities. They learn customer service expertise, time
management, and culinary and baking techniques while also interacting with local business
professionals.
The New You is a thrift store located adjacent to Straight Up Café. Straight2Work participants manage
the daily operations of the store, interact with customers, and develop retail and marketing skills.
Straight Ahead Building Maintenance is operated by Straight2Work participants who are tasked with
cleaning and maintaining the offices and public spaces within the Straight Ahead headquarters building
located on Main Street in Worcester, MA where the S2W business ventures operate. Participants are
responsible for cleaning and maintaining restrooms, conference rooms, stairwells, and sidewalks. The
participants develop independent work skills and learn time management as they follow a daily work
order.
Outcomes:
We have increased our ability to track and evaluate outcomes with the implementation of Efforts to
Outcomes software. Currently, we are tracking the following outcomes for Straight2Work participants:
•
•
Employment:
o Measure: Obtain employment in community upon graduation
o Outcome: 100% of Straight2Work graduates placed
Pro-Social Behavior
Measure: Change in pro-social behavior, as measured by the Criminal Thinking Scale
(CTS)
o Outcome: Initial results, while limited, appear to be very good: Power Orientation (PO)
is down 17%, Criminal Rationalization (CR) is down 15%, and Personal Irresponsibility
(PI) is down 26%.
Life Skills
o Measure: Improvement in Life Skills, as measured by the Arizona Self-Sufficiency Matrix
(ASSM)
o Outcome: 50% of S2W Participants show improvement across 10 domains on the
Arizona Self-Sufficiency Matrix (ASSM)
Recidivism
o Measure: Recidivism, as measured by new arrests and technical probation/parole
violations
o Outcome: 12%
o
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•
In 2014, 42 youth participated in the Straight2Work Program; among these there was a 12% recidivism
rate, 95% had no new convictions, and 93% had no new technical violations.
Sustainability:
We’ve taken several successful steps to sustain and expand WYRP:
• We’ve broadened efforts to obtain foundation and corporate grants and expanded the number of
distinct appeals to funders, e.g. vocational, educational, and enterprise proposals and capital
requests.
• We’ve also applied for more public grants and contracts, with considerable success, including the
new Safe and Successful Youth Initiative sub-grant, new state Byrne grant, and new DYS funding. In
2014, we expect to cast our net still further, perhaps including federal grants.
• We have worked hard to expand the number and average donation from both longstanding and new
SAM individual supporters, with significant success.
• We have begun to approach local financial institutions, retailers, and other businesses to obtain
contributions and in-kind resources. Most of these make moderate-size grants (e.g. $1-3,000), but
the response so far has been very positive (i.e. St. Gobain, Avidia Bank, and Webster Five).
Partnerships:
WYRP worked in partnership with many local organizations in 2014:
• Corrections and Law Enforcement - We worked with the Mass. Dept. of Youth Services, Worcester
House of Correction, local police and sheriff’s departments, the courts, and legal services attorneys.
• Atty. Hector Pineiro (Criminal Defender) – Attorney Pineiro has been an advocate for our
Straight2Work participants, has held information sessions at SAM, and offers his support by
providing the latest community law information.
• Safe and Successful Youth Initiative - The coalition has brought us into partnership with the Boys and
Girls Club, Worcester Police, Worcester Public Schools, YMCA, Worcester Youth Center, Mosaic
Cultural Complex, Iglesia Cristiana de la Comunidad, and Worcester Community Action Council.
• Jobs not Jails (EPOCA Ex-prisoners and Prisoners Organizing for Community Advancement) - This
organization believes social change can only be led by the people who most need the change. SAM
has embraced and supported their efforts, including participating in rallies at the local state house.
• Education and Employment - YouthWorks, Worcester Youth Center, South Middlesex Opportunity
Council, Training Resources of America, YWCA, Worcester Community Action Council, Quinsigamond
Community College, Worcester Public Schools, Centros Las Americas, Workforce Central Career
Center, and numerous private employers.
• Health, Mental Health, and Family Services - We work with the Mass. Dept. of Children and Families
and with several community health centers and providers, including LUK Crisis Centers, Spectrum
Health Systems, UMass Memorial Health Care, and private clinicians.
• Health Presentations - Sue Sleigh, LPN of UMass presented a 13-week youth healthy initiative
session, MCPHS – MA College of Pharmacy students presented a dental hygiene class, UMass Med
Student presented a teen violence prevention class, and the Worcester Recovery Group hosted
weekly recovery outreach sessions.
• Churches and Temples - We work with a local network of faith-based groups to involve volunteers,
get donated items (e.g. food, clothing), and connect participants to grass-roots support.
• Regional Environmental Council (REC) - We partnered with the REC to provide youth summer jobs in
urban gardening projects. This partnership has expanded with the addition of a commercial kitchen
that will serve as a community incubator and will use produce grown in these urban gardens. They
played an important role as a partner with our Straight2Work participants with the Farmers’ Market
at the Worcester Youth Center.
• Other - We work with varied organizations meeting needs in housing, recreation, culture, benefits,
and material needs (e.g. food pantries, fuel assistance). The Straight2Work participants benefited
from the community services of these extended partners: The ESL Class, Grafton Farmers’ Market,
Catholic Charities, Salvation Army, St. John’s Church, Pernat Family Services, RCAP Solutions, and the
Central MA Housing Alliance.
Challenges:
• Funding – We had a very strong funding year allowing us to increase our capacity. While funding is
always a challenge, we continue to invest in new funding relationships on the federal, state and local
levels to create a sustainability plan for ongoing services and growth opportunities.
• Partnerships - Our partnership with DYS goes back two decades and was instrumental in helping us
launch YRP in Lynn. Our partnership with the Worcester House of Correction is newer, but has grown
in number of referrals and in access and coordination.
• SAM has long involved churches from all over the state, so it was not too hard to build a base of
church financial and volunteer support in Worcester. However, it has taken time for us to develop
strong partnerships with local social service agencies, youth programs, schools, and law enforcement.
Two factors that have accelerated this process are:
a. Our move to a very visible downtown location.
b. Our inclusion in the Safe and Successful Youth Initiative coalition.