The Justice and Housing and Urban Development departments on Monday announced $1.75 million in grants to local housing authorities to help juveniles released from detention find jobs and somewhere to live.
The grants are being awarded through HUD’s Second Chance Act fund. The local housing authorities that were chosen have partnerships with nonprofit legal organizations experienced in helping juvenile offenders.
Attorney General Loretta Lynch and HUD Secretary Julian Castro traveled to Philadelphia to announce the grants.
“The future of our nation depends upon the future of our young people, including young people who have become involved with our justice system,” Lynch said. Helping such youths “find decent jobs and stable housing after they return home … and provide a foundation for a fresh start and offer a path towards productivity and purpose,” she said.
Juvenile and criminal records make it much harder for former felons to find jobs and housing, the White House said.
The grants follow a report the White House released last week to show that lengthy prison sentences for non-violent offenders hurt the economy. That report and the president’s weekly radio address delivered Saturday on the topic are designed to push President Obama’s late-term priority of overhauling the nation’s criminal justice system.
The U.S. has 55,000 juveniles incarcerated across the country with another approximately 185,000 in state and federal prisons, according to the White House.
The Justice Department and HUD will make it easier for former juvenile offenders to reintegrate into society by “expunging, sealing and/or correcting their records,” when state law permits it; help them get drivers’ licenses; and help them gain admission to school.
