Kelly Dame kdame@mdn.net
Published 3:15 am, Saturday, August 9, 2014
A program to help former prisoners integrate into society has received a boost in funding with a grant from The Dow Chemical Co. Foundation.
Rob Worsley, program director of Midland Community Former Offenders Advocacy and Rehabilitation, said the $15,000 grant was made in July. The money will be used for workforce development, emergency assistance and more.
Earlier this year, MCFOAR was in need of a partner organization, which gave an opportunity for the Caregiving Network to step in.
“It’s awesome,” Julia Bristol, Caregiving Network executive director, said of the grant. “The Dow Chemical Company Foundation investment will allow MCFOAR to continue it’s work and also maintains the community safety we all enjoy in Midland.”
Worsley, a former Midland County Sheriff’s Office deputy and jail manager, went on to work with the state’s prison re-entry program. When funding for that program was discontinued in December 2012, Worsley began MCFOAR.
He said it costs $39,000 to incarcerate one person in a Michigan prison for a year. He said his program provides a cost savings to law enforcement and the court system, and also to the community, as he assists former inmates obtain housing, employment and other basic needs, he said, adding the more that these needs are met, the less likely former inmates are to revert back to old ways.
Worsley can be reached at (989) 832-8533.