| Name | Bettie |
|---|---|
| Last Name | Kirkland |
| Home Address | 620 Lindsay Street Suite 100 Chattanooga, TN 37403 United States |
| Organization Name | Project Return |
| Describe Your Role In The Organization | Chief Executive Officer |
| Organization Address | 620 Lindsay Street Suite 100 Chattanooga, TN 37403 |
| Website | https://www.projectreturninc.org |
| Best Phone Number To Reach You | 423-609-8986 |
| Alternate Phone Number | 615-327-9654 |
| Email Address | bkirkland@projectreturninc.org |
| Alternate Email Address | khall@projectreturninc.org |
| Please Describe Your Project In Detail | Every year, approximately 14,000 individuals leave prison in Tennessee, but more than half of them will be reincarcerated within three years. Research shows that employment is a leading indicator for remaining free from incarceration. The formerly incarcerated, however, must overcome stigma and employer reluctance. Other challenges include a lack of: transportation, identification documents, skills/education, and professional, job appropriate clothing. We propose the launch of PROPS, our property services social enterprise, to address these challenges by pairing transitional employment and skills training with wraparound support and coaching for people immediately after release. PROPS is an award-winning, employment-creating, mission-centered social enterprise. We create small, dedicated crews of workers – our participants who we hire – and deploy these supervised crews to perform contract work, which runs the gamut of property services: lawncare and landscaping, commercial cleaning/disinfecting, construction site clean-up, painting, property make-ready, and more, to area businesses. For those participants who are transitionally employed through PROPS, they are earning and learning on the job, gaining in both the soft skills that spell employment success and the hard skills that build a career, as we bridge the terrible gap between prison and regular employment for them. PROPS is the path to the successful future of anyone who gets out of prison and wants to build a new life, leaving prison behind and becoming a working member of this community. |
| Please explain how your project meets the requirements of the American Rescue Plan | One of the primary focuses of the American Rescue Plan is to minimize the astounding negative economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, which were felt even more acutely amongst marginalized populations. People come to Project Return without employment or any prospects. Upon arrival to Project Return, our participants are immediately put on a path toward employment. They are immersed in our job readiness curriculum and made aware of our transitional employment opportunities and, within a week, have the opportunity to begin gaining income, on-the-job training, and work experience. A recent Prison Policy Initiative study shows that the unemployment rate for formerly incarcerated people is almost five times higher than the unemployment rate for the rest of the U.S. population. The launch of PROPS in Chattanooga creates more job opportunities for the formerly incarcerated, and at a critical juncture immediately after incarceration, thereby mitigating the disastrous economic impacts on this marginalized population. |
| Where would your project take place? | Much of our work takes place in our office in downtown Chattanooga at 620 Lindsay Street. Of course, the contracts that we gain through this property services social enterprise will have our PROPS crews performing work throughout the region. |
| How much will your project cost in total? | 400000 |
| Do you have any matching funding sources from other local governments, private entities, non-profits, or philanthropic entities for your project? | Yes |
| Please describe the source and list amounts of any other funding. | $125,000: City of Chattanooga for purchase of vehicles to transport participants to job sites $40,000: corporate & private donations $10,000 Unum Social Justice Fund Project Return is also unique in its ability to generate revenue through our operation of mission-centered social enterprises, all of which takes our contributed dollars farther and directly funds our programs and services. |
| What portion of the project are you asking the city to fund? | This funding would allow Project Return to purchase the equipment necessary to launch PROPS. It would also cover staff time of developing this social enterprise in Chattanooga. |
| If funded, when would your project start? | April 1, 2022 |
| How long would your project take to complete? | We would be able to launch and sustain PROPS for years to come. As soon as we identify customers in need of property services, we will be able to move forward and keep this project going alongside Project Return's other services. |
| What milestones would you use to measure your project’s progress? | Project Return has a track record of success, measured along two main metrics: high employment and low recidivism. Each year, Project Return sets performance goals based on these metrics and sets processes & procedures around achieving those. We aim for a job acquisition rate that is above 80% and work with each participant to achieve that. Our participants come to us of their own volition, and we meet that motivation with job opportunities, in addition to a full array of signature wraparound services. Project Return has a history of a <20% recidivism rate, while state and national rates tend to be above 50%. We achieve low recidivism through our ardent focus on employment and by working closely with participants and service partners. We hope to develop 10 contracts and transitionally employ 80 people through PROPS during this funding period. The contracts we gain throughout the City of Chattanooga will allow us to continue employing more people and will contribute to our overall sustainability as an organization, as it will serve to generate revenue to then put back into our program. |
| How would you ensure accountability and transparency throughout the project lifecycle? | Project Return has a commitment to real-time data collection and is transparent with its funders about that data regarding the success of the program. Project Return is accustomed to supplying monthly or quarterly reports on performance outcomes and will eagerly comply with any reporting practice that the City of Chattanooga wishes to institute for this funding. |
| If successful, how would your project benefit the community? | The work of Project Return benefits the community at multiple levels. Reducing recidivism and saving taxpayer dollars, while changing lives and working closely with local businesses to meet workforce needs – this is the focus of Project Return. Recidivism carries real costs –financial, social, and emotional, as well as multi-generational. Beyond the high opportunity cost of finite resources going toward extensive and repetitive correctional measures – a drain on local coffers, and a diminishment of public health and safety – there is the compounding breakdown of households, neighborhoods, and the communities they comprise. More than beneficial, the life-changing work of Project Return is transformational: every person who gets out of prison and stays free and lives productively is effectively flipping the narrative and reversing the trajectory for themselves and their families, and the city as a whole. PROPS, in particular, has its own unique impact on the community. Transitional employees have a greater chance of long-term employment and significantly lower recidivism. Outcomes at Project Return substantiate this understanding: among all participants, the recidivism rate is consistently less than 20%, but recidivism is even lower – 3% in 2021 – for those we transitionally employ. In addition, PROPs helps to meet the growing demand for property services in Chattanooga. Our PROPS customers—both corporate and nonprofit partners alike—get the benefit of our high-quality services, our excellent results, and our reliability. |
| How will you attract community buy-in for your project? | Project Return identified a strategic directive in 2019 to expand to other geographic locations and, since that time, we have been working to develop relationships with community members in Chattanooga. Once awarded funding to officially expand to Hamilton County in early 2020, staff members spent months traveling to Chattanooga to meet with public officials, nonprofit leaders, Our partnerships with other service organizations are an essential aspect of the success of the people served by Project Return. Prior to opening, we established such partnerships with local medical clinics, child support offices, transitional living facilities, and many others. Also essential are connective relationships with private employers – of all sizes/types, throughout the metropolitan area, and across industries. Through these employment partnerships, we are helping to meet the workforce needs of the community while also providing opportunity for those returning from incarceration. These cross-sector partnerships create widespread buy-in within the community and, as we grow, we believe that this will continue to develop. Our grand opening in November was well-attended by public officials, employers, nonprofit leaders, and foundations. We have received donations from major private businesses and local community members and will continue to cultivate those relationships. Our Business Development team will also work to develop partnerships with corporate and nonprofit partners who have property services needs. Chattanooga is a rapidly growing city with an increased demand for this kind of work, and PROPS will be a welcome addition. Of course, our most hoped for buy-in is amongst our clientele—those individuals who are released from facilities at midnight with little to nothing to their name. Within 5 months of opening, we have already served over eighty participants on their way to a full and free life after incarceration. We will continue our in-reach and outreach efforts in local jails, prisons, and transitional living facilities to ensure our target population is aware of our services. |
| Is there anything else you would like us to know about your project? |