Adult Reentry Grant Program Warm Handoff Reentry Services Cohort II

The target population identified in SB 840 are people who have been formerly sentenced to and released from state prison. This includes people leaving state prison that are on parole or those monitored by the probation departments of each county through PostRelease Community Supervision (PRCS). Successful proposals will be funded for approximately three years and 7 months commencing July 1, 2021 and ending February 28, 2025.  Applicants will be allowed to request up to a maximum of $500,000 for the entire grant period.  No match is required. Eligible applicants are Community-Based Organizations (CBOs) located in the State of California that have been determined by the IRS to have 501(c)(3) status (i.e., nonprofit).  Verification of applicant’s status as a 501(c)(3) must be submitted with the California Secretary of State database. https://businesssearch.sos.ca.gov/ Senate Bill (SB)1380 (General RFP Appendix B) chaptered September 29, 2016 and effective January 1, 2017, requires a state agency that funds, implements, or administers a state program that provides housing or housing-related services to people experiencing homelessness or at risk of homelessness, to adopt guidelines and regulations to include Housing First policies. It is important for applicants to be aware that SB 1380 applies to the Adult Reentry Grant Program. As such, this will require applicants proposing projects that include housing or housing-related services to people experiencing homelessness or at-risk of homelessness to incorporate the core components of Housing First in their proposed program design. Housing First is an approach to serving people experiencing homelessness that recognizes a homeless person must first be able to access a decent, safe place to live, that does not limit length of stay (permanent housing), before stabilizing, improving health, reducing harmful behaviors, or increasing income. Under the Housing First approach, anyone experiencing homelessness is connected to a permanent home as quickly as possible and Housing First programs remove barriers to accessing housing and do not require sobriety or an absence of criminal history. It is based on the “hierarchy of need” in which people must access basic necessities like a safe place to live and food to eat before being able to achieve quality of life or pursue personal goals. Housing First values choice not only in where to live, but whether to participate in services. For this reason, tenants are not required to participate in services to access or retain housing. The statutory language authorizing the Adult Reentry Grant Program does not specify the types of Warm Handoff reentry services to be funded. Applicants should select programs that best fit the needs of the community. Additionally, the ESC has placed a priority on services that lead to permanent housing and the provision of critical-time intervention that meets the immediate needs of individuals upon their release from prison or from placement by parole in residential treatment.