The purpose of the Resource Center is to provide former inmates with necessary resources for their re-integration into their community and their families and thereby drastically increase their chances for a successful life free from crime. The Resource Center will also provide the participants necessary tools for entering into and moving up in the job market and support them to live as responsible, productive members of the community.

The Community Resource Center is based on a model in which new halfway house residents who choose to be in the six-month program are mentored by ex-offenders who have succeeded in breaking the cycle.

The Center will consist of paid staff members who are responsible for the training and development of ex-offender mentors who in turn will train and empower new participants in their transition to free, responsible living. The Resource Center is creating a cycle of empowerment to break the cycle of recidivism.

A network of community resources will provide the following components:

The success of the program will be measured by the percentage of participants who have maintained a job for six months or more, who have a long-term plan for their lives, and are on track for fulfilling their life plan. The program will be validated as successful if 60% of the participants fulfill the conditions above and if 25% of the participants choose to become mentors for new halfway house residents.

Participants who do not choose to become mentors in the program will meet twice a year so staff can assess progress on their life plans, and provide counsel and continued support.

Year ONE: Program implemented in Center 2. Community resources will be established to provide the personal and employment skills training. Research of any similar programs elsewhere will help advise initial efforts. Curriculum and all aspects of the program will be logged, assessed and revised to incorporate suggestions from the participants and strengthen the model. Results will be tracked and documented.

Year TWO: Begin citywide implementation. Program continues in Center 2 and is replicated in Center # 4. Mentors from the Year One program receive training and begin to replace the initial community resource delivery people. Residents at other centers may travel to participate and become eligible to implement the program in their own centers the following year. A mid-term and year-end symposium of all participants will be conducted to continue assessment and improving the model, and to allow community leaders to observe and become committed to the program.

Year THREE: Program implemented regionally. Additional centers will implement the program both within the city and in the county. Other counties and states may send program leaders to be six-month interns who are trained and enabled to establish End Violence Resource Centers in their communities. The mid-year and year-end symposia become a standing feature produced by the participants that supports wide interest in duplication of the program nationally. Mentors will maintain contact with similar programs for mutual strengthening and problem solving.

Year FOUR: Program implemented nationally. Mentors will be proactive in reaching out to the Caribbean Islands, Latin America and Africa to invite interns to be trained to establish new End Violence Resource Centers in their countries.

Staff positions in the Community Resource Centers will be gradually handed over to the graduates of the program with a goal that at the end of the fifth year, all Year One, Two and Three programs will be fully staffed by former participants. Thus the program will provide new careers for ex-offenders and fulfill the cycle of empowerment as former participants now make a living at helping others stay free and responsible.