| Name | Joe |
|---|---|
| Last Name | Jenkins |
| Home Address | 3828 Altamira Drive East Ridge, TN 37412 United States |
| Organization Name | The BRAVE Effect |
| Describe Your Role In The Organization | My role in the organization is as CEO, Lifestyle development advisor, coach, and leader of our street team. I maintain the day-to-day operations of the organization. I reach out to men and women incarcerated and/or recently released, upon request, and offer them the tools to create and maintain a renewed mindset of positive self-control while coaching them to success on a weekly basis through job management, conflict resolution, self-love, and personality trait assessments. As the program is growing I have become aware of the need for assistance. |
| Organization Address | 3828 Altamira Drive East Ridge, TN 37412 United States |
| Website | https://www.thebraveeffect.org |
| Best Phone Number To Reach You | 423-693-5961 |
| Alternate Phone Number | 423-762-2442 |
| Email Address | thebravee4@gmail.com |
| Alternate Email Address | joejenkins4@yahoo.com |
| Please Describe Your Project In Detail | The BRAVE Effect is designed to take men and women who know that after being justice-involved they now want to live a healthy and productive lifestyle. These individuals have in mind or have written their future life plans down but don’t know where to start. We usher them to and through the process by helping them understand it starts with them. With critical thinking and affirmative action, we surround them with a plethora of recourses and support team throughout the community. In addition to lifestyle assistance, we will offer a “first stop to home” transitional housing. Each housing unit will host a case worker, around the clock coaching, on-point personnel and a housing manager. Three fully furnished houses will house no more than 3 individuals at a time, (preferably two). This reduced setting of individuals automatically shifts them from the feeling of any institutional living. It will provide a chance for them to see their life outside of prison walls, as well as violence, instability, and poverty. Traditional resources will also be brought to the houses to give that feeling of home and having those table talks that will transition into their permanent home. Transportation will be made available for any clients needing to get to appointments and work. (One van and one car). We will meet with each participant daily for check-ins and bi-weekly for group classes. They will have curriculum and homework to be completed and turned in each week. They will meet with their case manager once a week to check in and schedule any referrals they may need including mental health counseling, doctor appointments, dental/vision appointments, etc. We will provide clothing to assist in properly transitioning and for work, as required. We have referral relationships with parole and probation officers in Chattanooga who refer people to our program, as well as working with the reentry teams at local jails. The BRAVE Re-entry Guide has been distributed to over 2,500 inmates in Hamilton County, and we want to not only offer a guide to re-entry but also a place to live, a job, transportation and round the clock coaching to make the transition as simple and successful as possible. |
| Please explain how your project meets the requirements of the American Rescue Plan | The more men and women equipped with the proper skills to be productive are positively impacted. Their households and families can then reduce the survive by any means mindset, which lessens violent criminal lifestyles and gun violence in our community. |
| Where would your project take place? | Our project will take place in Chattanooga TN, throughout Hamilton County. |
| How much will your project cost in total? | 1223940 |
| Do you have any matching funding sources from other local governments, private entities, non-profits, or philanthropic entities for your project? | No |
| Please describe the source and list amounts of any other funding. | |
| What portion of the project are you asking the city to fund? | |
| If funded, when would your project start? | September 1, 2022 |
| How long would your project take to complete? | on-going |
| What milestones would you use to measure your project’s progress? | We take a hands-on approach to measuring the success of our participants. Milestones are indicated through gainful employment, participants constant acknowledging acceptance of responsibility for their past, repairing relationships with family and children, and ultimately not recidivating back into the prison system. Every six months spent living a clean and productive life in society is a milestone. We have had more than twenty successful participants who have completed the BRAVE Effect and have not recidivated after two years. We will look to see this grow exponentially. |
| How would you ensure accountability and transparency throughout the project lifecycle? | Transparency is all about honesty, openness, and trust. It makes the work better as well as building cohesiveness. We have a board of directors who votes on all changes, the budget, the people hired, fund reporting/monitoring and decisions that hold the organization responsible and accountable. The board also will assume the role of ensuring the project is on track and all progress or concerns are communicated effectively to foster a culture of collaboration. All required reporting timelines will be met as established by the City. We value our wise and diverse group of community leaders who give their time to govern our board. We meet twice monthly to measure progress and hold votes. |
| If successful, how would your project benefit the community? | Reentry programs are designed to help returning citizens successfully "reenter" society after being incarceration. This reduces recidivism, improves public safety, and saves money. The city’s approach to use of the American Rescue Plan funds is to invest, as opposed to merely spend, Chattanooga’s portion of federal pandemic-relief dollars, leveraging a once-in-a-generation opportunity to build lasting solutions that will spark generational community change. The BRAVE Effect’s primary focus of reentry efforts is to remove or reduce barriers so that motivated individuals - who have served their time and paid their debt to society - are able to compete for a job, attain stable housing, support their children and their families, and contribute to their communities. The reduction of violence, drug, and gun activity on the streets is a goal that our community, city, and nation seek. Many of the people that come through our program were once those very drug dealers and violent offenders that needed reform. Nationally, two out of every three people released from state prisons are rearrested for a new offense and about half are reincarcerated within three years. Rather than staying a statistic, we help make a dramatic change in their lifestyle and provide the means necessary to achieve it. Individuals who have been incarcerated can expect their future earnings to be reduced by about 40% after they return to their communities. The BRAVE Effect will help them see how to reduce barriers to employment so they, after being held accountable and paying their dues, can compete for work opportunities. They will learn how to budget their finances in a way that is sustainable to a healthy lifestyle. They will make amends within their families and learned how to be better mothers and fathers, better sons and daughters to their parents, better siblings. They will receive the mental health help they needed to overcome trauma and past addiction through our referral network because addressing the root causes of substance abuse leads to improved public safety. Stable housing with appropriate supportive services is a key factor in preventing homelessness and reducing recidivism. That goal is to reduce barriers to public and subsidized housing, and advance promising models that improve outcomes for people who repeatedly use corrections and homeless services. When they leave the program, they are changed men, women, and people of integrity. |
| How will you attract community buy-in for your project? | We have quarterly fundraising events planned to draw in the community (5k’s, banquets, golf tournaments). We also have a marketing strategist who works daily networking via social media, email marketing, and maintaining/promoting the website www.thebraveeffect.org. Community buy-in comes in several forms. We garner support through local media outlets and personalities where we have good relationships and regularly promote and share the message of reentry. We are sought out and asked to speak in local public and private schools, such as McCallie School and Orchard Knob Academy. We engage with groups at local probation offices and non-profits seeking to reduce recidivism. I’ve been told that people listen because I can relate to them as a person who successfully beat the odds of recidivism myself. Lastly, we have had great feedback both in prison/violence prevention amongst the youth and in reentry work. |
| Name | Cassi Combs |
| Contact Information | 423-326-7017 cassicombs@outlook.com |
| Is there anything else you would like us to know about your project? | Currently looking for donations, matching funds, and philanthropic resources to lower amount requested from the City. |