Children of promise, NYC (cpnyc) proposes to implement the voices from afar: strengthening connections between children and incarcerated parents program

The U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) awarded a $694,937 Project Grant under the Children of Incarcerated Parents (CFDA 16.831) program to Children of Promise, NYC (CPNYC). The funding will support CPNYC's "Voices from Afar: Strengthening Connections between Children and Incarcerated Parents" program. Key activities include strengthening relationships with correctional facilities, facilitating trauma-informed trainings for corrections officers, establishing a multi-modal communication program to connect youth and incarcerated parents, delivering afterschool programming and mental health services to impacted youth, and creating peer support and advisory councils. The project aims to strengthen parent-child relationships, provide evidence-based youth development and mental health services, increase protective factors for youth, prevent future juvenile justice involvement, and reduce recidivism among formerly incarcerated parents. The 3-year project period runs from October 1, 2023 to September 30, 2026.

The purpose is to develop and implement programs and services that foster positive family engagement between incarcerated parents and their minor children and provide a continuum of youth development and mental health supports for children and incarcerated parents. Project activities include: strengthening relationships with correctional facilities through speaking engagements and outreach activities; facilitating trauma-informed trainings for corrections officers; establishing and implementing a multi-modal communication program connecting youth and incarcerated parents utilizing letter-writing, in-person visits, televisitation, and electronic communication; delivering high-quality afterschool programming, summer day camp, mentoring, and mental health services to youth; establishing a peer support group of formerly incarcerated individuals; and establishing a youth advisory council and parent/caregiver advisory council. Expected outcomes include: development of a multi-pronged strategy to strengthen communications between cpnyc youth participants and incarcerated individuals in correctional facilities; strengthened parent/child relationships; provision of evidence-based youth development and mental health services; increase in protective factors for youth; prevention of future involvement in the juvenile justice system; reduced recidivism among formerly incarcerated parents; and regular program assessments. Children, ages 6 to 17, living in bedford-stuyvesant, brooklyn and the south bronx, and impacted by parental incarceration as well as their incarcerated parent(s) are the intended beneficiaries of the project.