Tri-County Community Corrections held a Resource Fair Wednesday for inmates.
This year is the 5th year that Tri-County Community Corrections has held the Resource Fair. The Resource Fair had a variety of resources from Housing and Redevelopment, Alluma, Career Force, Adult and Teen Challenge, and more. Between 20-30 tables were set up, and inmates were busy visiting, picking up brochures, and signing up for various programs. The atmosphere was very positive. Tri-County Community Corrections Executive Director Andrew Larson was all smiles as we talked about what the Resource Fair means for the Facility. “It’s something we try to do on an annual basis, just to get service providers, employers, different resources to all come together in one spot so we can make the inmate population aware of services that they can access not only upon their release but while they are in custody to help prepare them for their release.”
Director Larson believes strongly that having access to some of these services will help the inmates when they are released. “It’s really important that we provide them with access to some of these services and just honestly educate them on services that are available to them in the community,” says Director Larson.
Officer Joey Pederson, Jail Administrator, has been around for each of the Resource Fairs and spoke to the attendance of the Resource Fair. “From a vender/resource perspective, probably 20-30 different community resources have attended over the years, it varies a little bit from year to year; it’s hard to set a date that works for everybody every year.” Pederson also spoke of the inmate attendance and their appreciation for the Resource Fair. “The feedback we get from inmates year after year for this is really, really positive; I would say there are some units we have 100% participation, it’s really rare that we don’t see 95 plus percent participation out of each of these units and I think that speaks volumes to not only their appreciation for this event but I think it speaks to their desire to know what’s out there in the community and resources that will potentially help them transition back out,” said Pederson.
For anyone in the community who is interested in coming in to participate as a member or a resource, Director Larson encourages those individuals/businesses to reach out to him or Jail Administrator Pederson as they are always looking for more access to services for the inmate population. You can reach both Director Larson and Jail Administrator Pederson by doing a Google search for Tri-County Community Corrections.
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