Catholic Charities’ own Kevin Fitzpatrick, Director of the Office of Justice and Peace, and Stephanie Mills, Community Incentive Grant Director of Cornerstone Builders, gave a joint presentation on a Catholic Charities USA Webinar on the History of the Community Incentive Grant from the Louisiana Department of Safety and Corrections and it’s implementation at Catholic Charities. The webinar had over 50 participants and was facilitated by Jane Stenson of Catholic Charities USA.

During the webinar, Kevin Fitzpatrick spoke about the beginning of the relationship Catholic Charities developed with Corrections, which dates back to 2003; the AmeriCorps program at CCANO (2007-2019); and the work CCANO did to pass the Justice Reinvestment Reform Package in the Louisiana Legislature in 2017. The Reform Package led to the savings of millions of dollars at Corrections, which has since been re-appropriated for community members such as Catholic Charities.

Stephanie Mills spoke about the wrap around services, temporary work and job placement that Cornerstone Builders now provides under the grant.  Cornerstone Builders does prison in-reach up to six months prior to release and works with participants once they are released to provide essential needs such as housing, medications and employment. 

For more information about Office of Justice and Peace, visit https://www.ccano.org/office-justice-peace/

For more information about Cornerstone Builders, visit https://www.ccano.org/cornerstone/