Working Together to Support San Franciscans After Incarceration 2nd Annual Reentry Summit Safe Communities Reentry Council Wednesday, September 19, 2007 Jack Adams Hall César Chávez Student Center San Francisco State University AGENDA 8:30AM Registration and Coffee Visit Voices from Inside Exhibit and the Resource Area 9:00AM Opening Greeting: Jason Bell and Heather Weigand, SCRC Members Welcome: Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi Summit Overview: Public Defender Jeff Adachi 10:00AM Plenary Panel of Criminal Justice Partners Panel Moderator: JoAnn Mar, public radio producer Plenary Panel Introduction: Mayor Gavin Newsom Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi • Sheriff Michael Hennessey • District Attorney Kamala Harris • Public Defender Jeff Adachi • Deputy Chief Patrick Boyd, San Francisco Adult Probation Department • Phillip Torda, West Bay District Administrator, Parole, CDCR • Chief Deputy Secretary Marisela Montes, Adult Programs, CDCR • Daniel Zurita, Supervisor, US Federal Probation 11:45AM Short Break and Lunch is Served Music provided by Dr. Rachelle Rogers-Ard 12:15PM Reducing Violence through Successful Reentry Lunchtime Keynote Address by Luis J. Rodriguez 1:15PM At Home and in Communities: Decreasing the Disproportionate Impacts of Violence and Incarceration Therese Rodriguez, Project WHAT!, Community Works • Kyle Sporleder, Project WHAT!, Community Works • Corinne Pope, Children of Incarcerated Parents, Office of the Public Defender • Rudy Aguilar, Parolee Services Network, Department of Public Health • Ronald Sanders, Transitions Clinic • Kenneth Rodgers, Senior Ex-Offender Program • Cedric Akbar, Positive Directions Equals Change/No Violence Alliance • Abdul Aziz (R. Hardy, Jr.), No Violence Alliance • George Jurand, San Francisco Sheriff’s Department/No Violence Alliance 2:30PM Inside and Out: Increasing Access to Appropriate Services and Resources Panel Moderator: JoAnn Mar, public radio producer Dan Macallair, Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice • Senior Deputy Ronald Terry, San Francisco Sheriff’s Department/No Violence Alliance • Billy Booker, No Violence Alliance • Richard Rendón, San Francisco Pretrial Diversion Project/No Violence Alliance • Lisa Murphy, Walden House/FREE Women Coalition • Eddy Zheng, Community Youth Center • Allyson West, California Reentry Program • Karen Brown, Northern California Service League • Jason Bell, Project Rebound, San Francisco State University • Bill Buehlman, All of Us or None 3:45PM Closing Remarks: Public Defender Jeff Adachi 4:00PM Program Ends STRATEGIC PLANNING FRAMEWORK Safe Communities Reentry Council About The Safe Communities Reentry Council (SCRC) was formed in 2005 by Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, who continues to co-chair the Council with Public Defender Jeff Adachi. The SCRC consists of over 300 individuals, representing over 80 organizations and departments. We are focused on improving the system to support people returning to San Francisco from local jails, state prisons, and federal prisons. The SCRC is currently engaged in a Strategic Planning process to set forth our goals and actions for the coming two years. The Plan will be finished in December. This Framework provides an overview of where we are at. We invite you to join our planning process. Mission The Mission of the SCRC is Ato promote the safe and successful return of formerly incarcerated individuals to our community by developing a comprehensive support system that reduces violence and recidivism and promotes public safety.@ Vision The Vision of the SCRC is our picture of the future—if we all do our part to develop a comprehensive support system that reduces violence and recidivism. Our Vision includes four prongs: • Very few people will be incarcerated. • For those who are incarcerated, individualized reentry planning will begin on the first day of incarceration, and will be comprehensive, holistic, with access to an array of in-custody supportive services and resources. • Families of individuals who become incarcerated will be offered an array of supportive services and resources, from the point the person becomes incarcerated through successful reentry. • People who are leaving prisons and jails will be connected to appropriate, individualized, and coordinated services and resources in their communities. Goals and Actions The SCRC is currently developing its goals and action steps for the coming 2 years. The working areas of action are: Education and Employment, Services for Individuals and Families, Basic Needs, and Barriers to Benefits and Identification. The policy and program actions within each area are still being developed. Implementation Structure To ensure that we make positive and lasting change, the Strategic Plan must be implemented successfully. To this end, the SCRC is developing an Implementation Structure to enact the Plan; the activities involved in successful implementation are outlined on the following page. To Get Involved To get involved in the strategic planning process, or in other SCRC efforts, please contact: Jessica Flintoft, SCRC Program Coordinator, (415) 553-1593 or [email protected] Working Together to Support San Franciscans After Incarceration 2nd Annual Reentry Summit Safe Communities Reentry Council Wednesday, September 19, 2007 Jack Adams Hall César Chávez Student Center San Francisco State University BIOGRAPHIES (listed in order of first appearance) Heather Weigand Executive Director, FocuzUP & Director of Client Services, LAEP Heather Weigand is the founder and Executive Director of FocuzUp, a criminal and social justice agency. The past two years, FocuzUp has worked with The Life After Exoneration Program “LAEP” providing an array of expertise and leadership. Weigand serves as LAEP’s Director of Client Services and New Programs. Currently, her efforts are directed to developing avenues of funding and service provision to persons wrongfully convicted and incarcerated for crimes they did not commit and exonerated through the use of DNA forensic technology. She leads this new national civil rights movement through “Speaking for Justice,” an advocacy and public education program that addresses systemic defects and fatal flaws in the United States criminal justice system. Heather works toward legislative reform and is helping to push several Senate Bills through California legislation with allied organizations like the ACLU to help minimize the impact of wrongful conviction. Heather helped to craft “The Exonerated Restitution Act of 2007” with New Jersey Congressman Payne’s legislative office and has written a model state bill that will provide funding to non‐profits serving California’s exonerated ex‐prisoners. In March 2007, she authored and delivered the first case service and treatment provision model for exonerated ex‐prisoners at the Innocence Network Conference at Harvard University. Prior to founding FocuzUp, Heather worked in the non‐profit sector serving as clinical coordinator for one of California’s largest substance abuse programs working with at‐risk and formerly incarcerated populations. Heather obtained her B.A. with honors in Criminal Justice from San Francisco State University and was chosen as the University’s 2007 Hood Recipient of the College and Behavior and Social Sciences as well as the 2007 Outstanding Criminal Justice Student of the Year. She commits herself to help integrate and empower the formerly incarcerated through policy change, holistic programming and building human & social capital in people and communities that remain in the margins. Heather is a formerly incarcerated person and served a decade in and out of the California prison system, after battling a 20‐year drug addiction. C. Jason Bell Director (ASI), Project Rebound, San Francisco State University Jason decided to commit himself to education when he was sitting on the 5th tier at San Quentin state prison with a seventeen‐year sentence. He wanted to work to change the lives of people like himself— people whom no one had encouraged during high school and who were trapped in what felt to him like a downward spiral. “I quickly realized that the prison system was not designed for people to actually better themselves. There is absolutely no correction in the department of corrections. I had to take my destiny in my own hands.” After some investigating, Jason discovered that he could take college classes while in prison. With the help of friends and family, he scraped together the money to pay for courses. He negotiated with prison guards and administrators for the materials necessary to studying. He learned how to study amid chaos and violence, prioritizing his time and sticking to a strict study regimen. Jason taught himself to develop his mind while struggling simply to remain sane in a restrictive and punitive institution. After nine and a half years, in 2001, Jason was paroled. He left Solano State Prison with twenty‐four college units from Ohio University. By spring 2002, Jason was working in the City College Second Chance program for the formerly incarcerated. He continued there until graduating with an Associates degree in May 2003. In fall 2003, Jason began attending San Francisco State as a Project Rebound student. Rebound staff helped Jason adjust to the complicated and demanding university lifestyle. Jason soon began volunteering with Project Rebound, and he has been involved as a student and a worker ever since then. This last year, Rebound has struggled with changing staff, and Jason’s presence has been central to the program remaining a visible and valued presence