Thursday, June 27, 2013

Philadelphia Mayor's Office of Reintegration Services for Ex-Offenders' (RISE) Failure to Communicate

By Thomas Ford
June 27, 2013

For all the staff working at the Mayor's Office of Reintegration Services for Ex-Offenders (RISE) in Philadelphia, who constantly make it a habit of telling Blaq men seeking services from their office that "you are not victims" and "no one owes you shit", please read these two articles.
 
It is extremely hypocritical for city employees in management positions, who they themselves have criminal records, to forget about the injustices they faced during their plea bargained disposition at trial, their inhumane treatment while in prison and their violations/re-arrests following their release.   
 
No one is asking for returning citizens to be coddled; however, the public IS demanding that the tax-financed city employees working at RISE to GET THE HELL OFF THEIR HIGH HORSE and do your job without browbeating the citizens we pay you to serve.
 













1 comment:

  1. Comment from a RISE participant...

    Thank You Thomas

    I am glad finally someone has spoken up for the many men that have shown up on the steps of RISE, to be told that they are not victims. What most of the staff at Rise seem to fail to remember is that they too were once those victims. And it's a fact that I am sure that when they were released they knew that they were victims, before they obtained a position.

    I know first hand that RISE, has tried to fill ex-offenders heads with the fact that they will get them employed, by way of giving them a 4day training, and then putting some of them, not all of them to work at the Goodwill for 90 days. Then they are on there own. RISE has nothing more to offer them. And that's just for the men, there are no jobs for the women that complete there 4day training. The only reason that they had allowed some women to work at the Salvation Army was because I asked when I went there for help "Why were only the men working at the goodwill and not the women". They hired three woman at that time, I told them that I was able to find my own job, which I did.

    But thank you for parking there horse at the curb and not in that fake stable!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    J. Robinson

    ReplyDelete