Places to Find Free Tattoo Removal (Ex-Gang and Ex-Offenders)

I ran across a program in the Detroit area via Julie's List, the font of many good things, that offers free tattoo removal to ex-gang members in the Detroit area in exchange for community service.  It got me thinking about where else this may be offered. 

In metropolitan Los Angeles, there's Homeboy Industries, which offers tattoo removal along with its other outreach to former gang members.  The Central Texas Tattoo Project offers tattoo removal to minors for free, and asks those over 18 to contribute $60 to cover costs.  In the New York City area, former prisoners and gang members can get free tattoo removal via the Fresh Start program.  In Oxnard, California, the Chuck Muncie Foundation performs free tattoo removal for former gang members on the third Saturday of the month.  In the Denver area, GRASP provides free tattoo removal for those between 14 and 24.  Finally, in the Chicago area, the village of Hanover Park offers free tattoo removal to former gang members.  Contact police officer Jodie Wise of the Lisle Police Department at (630) 271-4218.

Some more sources of help from the website Jails to Jobs.

Where Do You Find Out About Who Does Worker Training? Here's Where You Find Out First.

If you've been following this blog for awhile, you know that the big federal agencies are not where you go to get most forms of assistance.  The money gets sent from there to local and state agencies, and, with the exception of direct cash assistance from federal agencies, most of it becomes programs at the local level.  But how to find the local agencies?

If you are looking for stuff on worker's training, here's a site worth following.  It's the Department of Labor's ETA (Employment and Training Administration) news release site.  It announces statistics, like the latest unemployment insurance claim reports, but it also spills the beans on where training money is going.  For instance, you can find that Bastrop County, Texas, is getting about $350,000 to hire 69 temporary workers to do wildfire cleanup.   In a story we did earlier, you can also discover which institutions got a grant earlier in the year for high-growth job fields, and what jobs they were training people for.  If you find that a state agency got the money, you can check with the one-stop job centers to see if they know anything.

Here's another Department of Labor website--the recent grant awards given by the DOL Center for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.   In it, you will discover which local agencies got grants to fund training programs for formerly incarcerated women and girls.   You can use this information to approach them and see if you can benefit from this program, or any other they may have.  Here's a list of agencies that got a grant to train and education former offenders.  There is usually at least a few month gap between the grant and when it goes into effect, but you get an idea of who to contact--and at least who has an interest in helping people in your group, whether ex-offender, veteran, woman, etc.

 

Entrepreneurship Training for Ex Offenders--Starting Your Own Business

An obvious way to help ex-offenders become legitimate earners is to teach them how to start a business.  Many employers aren't crazy about hiring them, and starting a business is a risky thing, while lots of ex-offenders are O.K. with risk taking.  So where are programs to help them do this?

In looking it over, I found some common threads: 1) many programs start right in prison, among active prisoners, rather than people out on the street. However, some work with released people and 2) yep, there's no grants or money giveaways.  At best, some offer the chance to get a microloan on favorable terms.  But the training in entrepreneural skills, especially writing business plans that you can present to institutions that loan money, is important in being able to get access to money.

Where to look?  Probably the most well-known is PEP (Prison Entrepreneurship Program) in Texas, in which inmates are chosen from across the Texas penal system to participate, after which they are transferred to the Cleveland (TX) facility and given an intensive course in business startup skills like marketing, finance and business plan writing.  The inmates have to be within 18 months of the end of their sentences, with at least 6 more months to serve, and must read and do math on at least the 10th grade level. Likewise, the Oklahoma Ex Offender Entrepreneural Training and Support Services are for inmates with GEDs or high school diplomas who are close to release. For women prisoners in Washington State and Oregon, there is the LIFE Prison Re-entry program that teaches entrepreneural skills to prisoners at Coffee Creek Correctional Facility in Wilsonville, OR, and the Washington Correctional Center for Women.

But what's out there once you're out?  There are a few things around the country.  One is Defy Ventures in metropolitan New York, which offers business training.  JVSChicago runs all sorts of business and job training, but has in the recent past offered the B.E.S.T program especially for ex-offenders. Project ReMade in the San Franciso area run by the Stanford Law School provides business training for women ex-offenders that have been out at least a year, but less than five years who have a high school diploma or a GED.  WIBO (Workshop in Business Opportunities) in New York that does all sorts of business training has workshops for ex-offenders.  Most interestingly, in the San Francisco area, the Springmeyer Law Firm offers pro bono services for ex-offenders who are starting up their businesses.

For more information on ex-offender business training opportunities, see this Inc magazine article, which is a few years old, but still has good information.

Find Financial Help to Get Personal ID

Having personal identification documents, like the state ID or birth certificate, makes life a lot easier.  However, for the poor, it can be tough scraping up even a relatively small amount of money to purchase it.  For ex-offenders, it can be really tough starting a new life without ID.  However, in some communities, there may be financial help if you are poor and need ID.

If you live in the Toledo area, the Zepf Center has an online list of resources, including places that can help you get personal ID.  This includes Catholic Charities, which helps ex-offenders released in the last 90 days (Ohio birth certificates only).  Call 419-244-6711 for more information.  Helping Hands of St. Louis/St. Vincent de Paul (East Toledo residents only), 443 Sixth St, Toledo, 419-691-0613, 2nd/4th Wednesdays of month 9-11AM as funding available, photo ID/proof of residency and income required, assistance limited to once per year. See the Zefp website for more information.

What if you live elsewhere?  Once again, 211 to the rescue!  If you have a 211 service in your area, call them for the information, or call any referral and information number that they list.   If you search for 211 services by community on this website, and your city has one, it will show if they have an online, searchable website (by listing “search for community services”), and if they do, search for the word “identification.”  This should bring up everything under the heading: “Identification card fee payment assistance.”  This is a heading in 211 listings for organizations that help you pay for obtaining identification documents, like state ID or birth certificates.  If you look in this heading, you will find organizations that will help you with this.

If you’re an ex-offender, organizations dedicated to re-entry may point you in the right direction.  In Ohio, check out the local re-entry coalition organization near you. If you live elsewhere, try this national listing of organizations to be referred for help.

SSI for Ex-Cons: This One Just Fell in My Lap

In my day (only) job as a librarian, I'm used to colleagues pulling my fat out of the fire, and am mighty grateful for it.  The other day, a gentleman came up to the reference desk asking for legal cites, some of which looked downright weird.  He could not say exactly where he had gotten these--they were all written in a lengthy, handwritten letter, but he was vague about where it came from.  So I decided to take the lazy shortcut now available through Google, and put in one of the cites: "Public Law 93.365.92.603." 

What came up in Google was this from Snopes, the urban legend debunker site, and a personal favorite. It was a posting by a librarian who was given a very similar email twice in one week, with a lot similar "information"--about how these laws could be shown to Social Security offices so that ex-offenders could get their immediate SSI payment, which they could get within 72 hours.  I have family members on SSI, and can testify that you can't get ANY check in that time frame. Then, the email instructs you to go to the "general welfare" office in your state, to get a check issued in two hours.  Again, I've had relatives on assistance, and one actually had to wait twice that long for her worker to meet with her, much less get a check.  And the "medical card" that should be able to "be used at any doctor's office?" Please.  That ain't happening. Ex-offenders have to apply for and use the medical services for the poor available in your area like anyone else.

They go on to list a whole bunch of other stuff that you should be able to charge up: car expenses, work tools, "casual clothes," Again, these are not "benefits."  There are some nonprofits that work to help with a used car or repairs, or with work clothing, etc.  But these are things provided--when they are--by a patchwork of community groups, WHEN they have money available. 

The part of the email closest to the truth involves tax credits available to employers who hire ex-offenders and other specific groups of hard-to-employ people.  Even so, this is not immediate help. 

What can ex-offenders do?  Largely, they have to use the same social services that everybody else does.  There are places around the country that try to put ex-offenders in touch with the right people, and who know the right agencies to tap.  Here's a whole roundup of what I have been able to find that can help ex-offenders, including getting help on expungement.

As the librarian in the posting points out, the legal references in this email are not true, or not valid, or just weird.  But apparently some version of this letter is still floating around 11 years after snopes knocked it down.  If you get it, don't believe it.

So How Can Re-Entry People Help Ex-Offenders?

A lot of hits on this blog are for the posts dealing with ex offenders--is there really a big Social Security check waiting for them? (That would be a no.)  And where do I get help?  The truth is, most of the help you get will not be in the form of a grant, but a hookup from local groups to services available to you.

So what does that look like?  Last Wednesday, I met a couple people from the Northwest Ohio Re-Entry Coalition.  They were from the Triage Services, meaning that they worked to get day-to-day necessities for the ex-offenders who were in need, as well as services that would help in the long run.  "Immediate services" that they help getting birth certificates or state ID cards, food and clothing bank connections, transportation, and college applications.  In the longer run, they can help get the ball rolling for food stamps, housing, education, medical care, and job readiness.  If you are an ex-offender in Lucas County, Ohio, contact them at 419-242-9955, extension 141, Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. till 4:30 p.m., or email them at Triage@RCNWO.org. 

They can also help in the area of child support services, acting as intermediaries in getting back licenses and contacting authorities so that you can get out of child support hot water, when possible.  For help with your child support problems, call case manager Lanaya McDonald at 419 213 3026 (email mcdonl@odjfs.state.oh.us) or Nichole Roberts, at 419 213 3472.

If you are an ex offender from another part of the state, see this map to find the regional coalition that might be able to help you.  Remember that each local coalition is different, and may provide different levels of services.  If you are from outside Ohio, try to find your local group that helps ex offenders.

Free Help in Getting Your Criminal Record Sealed or Expunged

A criminal record can be a real hindrance in getting a job and a new life.  A lot of the "information" out there about getting your record expunged or sealed is confusing or wrong, and  the truth can vary from state to state.  For full information on record sealing in Ohio, see this document by the Ohio Re-Entry Coalition, which lays out all the facts in detail and provides copyable forms, with instructions and a checklist.  This is a state by state rundown from other parts of the country.


What many people don't know is that there is often free help to walk through the process and help you file in the right court, talking one on one with knowledgeable people to make sure you don't make legal mistakes and waste time and money. 

In the Toledo area, there are two free workshops that I know of.  One is on the first Friday of the month at the Lucas County Law Library, from 1-2 p.m. (on the corner of Jackson and Michigan in downtown Toledo).  Call ahead (419) 242-4363 to reserve a spot.  Another is Second Chance Tuesday, on the second Tuesday of each month at The Source, 1300 Monroe Street from 1-2 p.m.  For reservations, call

419-213-5627. 
If you want to find legal help in your hometown, try searching Google with the terms "expungement workshop" and the name of your town.  A problem with this is that sometimes they are done on a one-time only basis, or for a limited time.  But even if it's an event that passed, you have still identified an agency in your town that may have more information.  Here's another website with more information on help for ex-offenders,  from local organizations. 

Sources of Help for Ex-Cons

We’ve debunked the myth of the free Social Security money right out of prison for ex-offenders.
So what is out there for them? We keep hearing about all this aid, so where is that going? For one thing, it's going to state and local government agencies, and local not-for-profit groups that single out ex-offenders as clients that they serve (NOT individuals). What form the aid is taking is anybody's guess. It depends on what agency gets the money, and what they do with it.
Federal resources for ex-convicts can involve help in getting a job (including bonding, tax breaks for employers, the same student aid available to everybody, and counseling at career one-stop job places.).

How do you find this help? For ex-offenders, it means identifying agencies in their area that have received grant money from the government.

You need to contact those agencies to put you in touch with resources. Often, they are the same resources that are available to other people hurting in today’s economy. Sometimes, they may have some funds for use by ex-offenders only, but it will often come as a service rather than direct dollars. This is a website by the federal government that identifies state and local agencies involved in helping ex-offenders. It lists state and local groups and a listing of what they provide. Sometimes it simply lists the top agency (for instance, the state Department of Correction), and not the office below it that really provides the service (for instance, in Ohio, that would be the Reentry Office) . You may have to contact an agency to see what type of assistance is available. Do NOT assume it is a cash grant—it PROBABLY ISN’T.

Another good hunting ground is your local 211 information and referral website (if you have one). If they have an online website, look under "reentry" and ex-offender.

For ex-offenders in Ohio, try this website. It's the state office that helps ex-offenders. There is also a listing of help county-by-country, and includes great, detailed information on expungment and sealing of records for Ohio. The link is for filing in Hamilton County, but the state information on what can and can't be expunged or sealed is excellent.

***More goodness****From the Sentencing Project, a state-by-state overview of rights after a felony conviction, expungement and sealing, and non-discrimination against ex offenders.
More state and local resources for ex-offenders through the National Reentry Resource Center.

Free Social Security Money for Ex-Cons? No, There's Not.

I thought my job at the library brought me in touch with every urban legend about money available, but even I get suprised sometimes. On Wednesday, I went to a monthly event hosted by the Northwest Ohio Re-Entry Coalition, a group of agencies dedicated to helping former offenders mainstream back into life. I gave my spiel about some library programs, and then a lady from the Social Security office got up to discuss getting a SS card. She suddenly gave an impassioned plea to NOT believe that Social Security gives ex-offenders $5,000 upon their release.

I fooled around the internet to see if this was a common rumor, and found it here and here. Like the SS lady said in Toledo, it's not happening. Nobody is giving you money for breathing in and out. Even if you did some of that in prison.

Where can you get help? From the same places that everybody else does--the welfare office, one-stop job centers, etc. Nationally, there are a few places to check for state and local resources.  This link is one of them, and this is another.  If you are in Ohio, check this site for re-entry resources in your community. It will give you a list of resources for everybody in need in your community--including you. If you are looking for educational money, look for scholarships where everyone else does, but also check the college or colleges in which you are interested, and see if they offer financial programs for ex-offenders. Most don't, but some do. Every locality varies.