PROMISE

Volunteers of America Delaware Valley’s PROMISE (Program for Returning Offenders with Mental Illness Safely and Effectively) is operated in partnership with the New Jersey State Parole Board, and is designed to meet the unique needs of individuals who are exiting the criminal justice system and have chronic mental health conditions. Participants are identified for PROMISE by the NJ State Parole Board prior to their release, and are required to participate in the program as a condition of parole.

Upon program admission, residents of PROMISE are assigned a multidisciplinary team with whom they will collaborate for up to 180 days during their program stay. In addition to linkages to needed mental health and substance abuse treatment services, residents are provided:

• 24/7 access to support staff
• individualized case management and discharge planning
• cognitive skills training
• education and assistance with activities of daily living

Upon discharge, participants may elect to participate in transitional or supportive housing through PROMISE. Both transitional and supportive housing are designed to promote independent living and successful community integration. PROMISE participants may stay in transitional housing for up to six months while they develop the skills and supports needed to transition into stable, permanent housing. Participants in supportive housing may stay indefinitely.

PROMISE provides a highly structured and therapeutic environment which seeks to prepare participants for all aspects of community living. In VOADV’s most recent recidivism study, only 15% of PROMISE participants who were in the program in 2014 were re-incarcerated in the three years after participation. When compared to similar follow-up studies conducted by the NJ Department of Corrections, PROMISE participants were found to be 13% less likely to be re-incarcerated than their peers.

Location: 510 Liberty Street, Camden, NJ 08104 (male participants);

509 Cooper Street, Camden, NJ 08102(female participants)