Mercer County Reentry Task ForceDecember 7, 2016 Meeting Minutes

218 N. Broad St., Trenton, NJ

In Attendance: Osvaldo Hernandez (MCRTF VISTA), Matthew Hardy (MCRTF Intern), Yumiko Mishima (Campaign to End the New Jim Crow), Perry Shaw III (A Better Way), Matthew Hardy (MCRTF Intern), Dione Johnson (Juvenile & Adult Re-Entry Connections), Ryan Pilarski (Isles), Wayne Holmes (VOA Trenton Safe Return), Anthony Williams (VOA Trenton Safe Return).

The meeting commenced at 1:50p.

The meeting was delayed due to the conference room being used for another meeting. Perry Shaw III arranged for the meeting to be moved to a waiting room on the first floor.

Members reviewed the minutes from the November 2nd meeting. Minutes were accepted by consensus.

Old Business:

Yumiko Mishima (Campaign to End the New Jim Crow) spoke about the success of the …And Justice for All: Restoring our Faith in Police and Community Relations Conference held on November 16th. A total of 127 people registered and 110 of those individuals showed up. Yumiko mentioned that a majority of the attendees were Police Chiefs, prosecutors, judiciary and other high level law enforcement officers. Yumiko discussed that for future events they are hoping to increase community presence at the conference by addressing challenges for those who work. Perry Shaw III (A Better Way) noted that because many higher office police officials it may prove positive in that they can take that information and input it to how they train and inform officers.

Yumiko Mishima also mentioned the NJ Communities Forward Initiative which meets twice per month. It is meant to help spark conversation on how police deal with the community. Yumiko referenced Ernest Parrey saying that they feel the community and police have built a wall which makes both sides feel that communication is difficult. Perry Shaw III added that there is a fear of telling on crime for members of the community. These people would put their lives at risk and due to large response times from police departments ranging from 27-40 minutes they refuse to help police in investigation efforts for their own safety. Ernest Parrey has also stated that there is a lack of manpower within the police department.

New Business:

Perry Shaw III presented an NJ.com article speaking about New Jersey Senate bill 51 that was vetoed by Governor Christie on Monday December 5th. Perry mentioned that for now advocates are waiting for Christie to leave office in order to resume the fight against solitary confinement. Yumiko Mishima (Campaign to End the New Jim Crow) stated that prior to reentry the Campaign to End the New Jim Crow was working on solitary confinement for the last year.

Ryan Pilarski (Isles) spoke about a program that Isles is doing called T-Recs. T-Recs sets up activities and games so youth and adults can play and enjoy themselves in a safe environment. Ryan mentioned that Isles is looking to have T-Recs used more frequently and informed the task force that if anyone had any events they were setting up Isles would be interested in setting up the mobile vehicle to increase participation from the community.

Perry Shaw handed out an article dealing with a reentry program that aims to help offenders who are most likely to be victims or perpetrators in homicides. Last month Mayor Ras Baraka and Senator Cory Booker received $1 million to fund the program. Senator Booker attended an event in Piscataway, NJ at the Shelton AME Church along with Paul J. Fishman from the U.S. Department of Justice.

Chair Updates:

Perry Shaw III will be looking to attend a conference on November 15th held by the Vera Institute and HUD in New York City. The conference will be looking at issues and solutions currently faced by the reentry population when dealing with housing authorities across the nation. Perry mentioned that while HUD policies have changed federally most local housing authorities haven’t updated policies. The most recent changes were made 7-8 years ago. He mentioned the Family Re-entry Pilot Program in New York City and the Pilot Program in New Orleans. Both programs have had a 100% success rate. With the NY program the minimum age is 16 and has restrictions specific to the program. With the New Orleans program Perry mentioned that they are studying all applications for housing on a case by case basis. New Orleans Housing Authority follows the federal guidelines set by HUD. As of 2016 the New Orleans Housing Authority has yet to turn anyone down and still maintains a perfect success rate. With these two programs in mind, Perry stated that he wants to make housing a main focus for the task force for the 2017 year.

Perry mentioned that the Trenton Housing and Hightstown Housing will be the top priority. Yumiko Mishima asked about the vacancy rate and waiting lists in Mercer County for housing. Perry responded that as of now there is no waiting list for housing and that there is a possibility that slots will be saved for individuals returning home. Yumiko then proposed the question as to how the DOC will calculate the number of people coming home. Perry responded that there is a way to estimate the total number as well as the fact that the task force has to be prepared to receive a flood of individuals coming home due to changes in drug laws within the next 2-3 years.

Announcements:

Perry Shaw III announced a toy drive being held by A Better Way. The goal was to have 200 toys and 200 books donated for the event. It was going to serve 200 families. Perry mentioned that there was a need for food in order to create meals.

A Better Way has recently become certified to provide anger management counseling. It will be looking to do 1 on 1 counseling, youth counseling and court mandated counseling services.

On Saturday December 10th there will be a screening of Incarcerating U.S. at the Union Baptist Church at 301 Pennington Ave Trenton, New Jersey 08618. The screening will go on from 1pm to 4pm with a panel discussion after. Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman and Eric Sterling from the Criminal Justice Policy Foundation will be present at the panel.

Meeting Adjourned at 2:56pm.