M-A-D Prison Ministry
M-A-D After Jail/Prison Supportive Housing Ministry
EIN: 41-2195871
Based on these assessments, at later meetings determine your strategies toward local government, potential supporters, potential opponents, legal issues and the media (steps 2-5); staffing required to implement your ex-inmate awareness strategies, and any consequences for your proposal’s timeline, funding needs or site selection.
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Each ex-inmate awareness strategy should have a clear plan of action: who will do what, when and how.
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Efforts to
implement these five strategies will be going on simultaneously.
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Timing issues are critical and must be decided after consultation with persons most
familiar with local politics and the relevant neighborhood.
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Expect to change and improvise your plans as you go along. You won’t regret planning because it will help you manage the process and avoid some fire drills and surprises. Most importantly, draw on the collective experience of others to gain further insight into the strategies for community acceptance.
2. Prepare a political strategy:
Get to know your local government’s players and relevant policies. There are “key leaders” in every community, but they don’t always have the same jobs or titles. To find them, always ask: “Who else should I talk with about better ex-inmates strategies?”
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Identify solid supporters, committed opponents and uncertain votes.!
Determine education and advocacy efforts needed to keep supporters, neutralize
opponents and win uncertain votes.
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Coordinate your efforts with supporters, concerned community members and the media to get the needed votes.
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Document everything and tell your best story at public hearings. Usually something like: “We’re a professional, community-based group with significant community support meeting a critical need, and we’ve done everything we can to respond reasonably to neighbors legitimate issues.”
If the vote were taken tonight, do you know who would vote for and against ex-inmate awareness?
3. Prepare a strategy to build public support:
Active, vocal community support for ex-inmates will help you get political support, counter your opponents, tell your story to the media and, when appropriate, say difficult things that developers usually do not want to hear.
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Develop solid support for ex-inmates (at least in the broader community) before
contacting potential opponents.
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Identify and prioritize actual and potential supporters, including tactical allies. Think widely about potential allies.
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Plan recruitment of supporters and what you want them to do for you.
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Organize and support your allies with background information, housing tours and up-to-date information.
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Mobilize supporters at critical points (e.g. using a database and email groups) and keep them informed and encouraged
Don’t spend all your time responding to opponents.
4. Prepare a strategy to deal with community issues:
Notification and community outreach decisions should be designed to deal effectively with legitimate concerns and for positive presentation of ex-inmates, not to create an open forum for opponents to organize themselves
against you.
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Consider alternative methods for community outreach (e.g. door-to-door canvassing, open-house forums or small house meetings) instead of the large,
open community meetings.
Only when you understand why a person opposes, can you select the best response
Use an issue-based strategy for working through local community concerns.
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Find out the probable basis of their concerns before fashioning a response (e.g.
misinformation, fears about impacts, expectation to participate, prejudice or issues
unrelated to ex-inmates)
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Prepare appropriate responses to each kind of concern (e.g. education, reassurance by trusted authority, appropriate forum for participation, negotiation, clarifying legitimate/illegitimate concerns)
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Peel away layers of opposition to leave only “unreasonable” opponents
5. Prepare a legal strategy:
Identify your organization’s and prospective tenants’ legal rights
and learn how to spot potential legal violations.
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If ex-inmates is likely to encounter illegal discrimination or raise complex legal issues, contact legal assistance immediately to learn what you can do to protect your rights, and how and when to get further legal assistance.
Learn to assert your legal rights without litigation.
Work with legal advocates to protect and assert your legal right without litigation, e.g., educating the city attorney early in the process.
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Keep records of all statements, flyers, etc., which may be evidence of discrimination
6. Prepare a public relations/media strategy:
Decide if you want to generate media coverage (proactive strategy) or if you only want to be able to respond effectively to any media coverage you receive (reactive approach).
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Designate and prepare spokesperson(s) including former clients and supporters.
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Develop your message(s) and alternative stories for your target audiences (e.g. decision-makers)
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Prepare brief, easily sharable, fact sheets about your organization, assisted ex-inmates to your supporters, your efforts to resolve legitimate community concerns, and other information to support your message(s) and alternative stories.
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Invite reporters for a tour of your existing facilities and to meet your staff and clients.
At the very least, select and prepare a spokesperson, your message and some easily shared information.
Follow up on any coverage you receive with thank you's and corrections.
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Develop ongoing relationships with media (to the degree your resources allow).
Financing
There are three (3) primary types of funding that may be required for ex-inmate supportive housing projects.
Capital Funding
In projects that include building (or developing) new units of ex-inmate supportive housing either through new construction or acquisition/rehabilitation, the capital funding refers to those costs associated with acquiring, creating, and/or rehabilitating housing units. These costs are sometimes referred to as “brick and mortar” costs.
Operating Funding
Operating funding refers to the costs of operating and/or maintaining the housing or physical component of ex-inmate supportive housing. Operating costs in a project owned by a housing sponsor include all costs of maintaining the project once it is ready for occupancy, such as property management, utilities, maintenance, insurance, security, debt service or other loan payments, and operating and replacement reserves.
Projects that include units of housing leased by the sponsor (either single-site or scattered-site) may have ongoing operating costs, depending upon the terms of the lease with the property owner.
Projects in which the partners do not have any ongoing responsibility for housing operations must still ensure that tenants/ex-inmates have access to housing units that are affordable based on income. This is typically accomplished through a rent subsidy, which covers the gap between an affordable tenant rent (usually 30% of income) and a reasonable rent in the community.
Supportive Services Funding
Supportive services funding refers to the cost of providing tenants/ex-inmates with the needed support to sustain housing stability and meet life goals. These services typically include case management focused on keeping tenants/ex-inmates in housing, as well as a range of additional services such as mental health or substance abuse counseling, employment services, peer support and primary health care etc.
- See more at: http://www.csh.org/toolkit/supportive-housing-quality-toolkit/project-design-and-administration/financing/#sthash.Hzu21kNl.dpuf