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NATIONAL AWARD WINNER
Getting Out and Staying Out (GOSO)
Reducing Recidivism Through Education & Directed Career Development
Every year, more than
125,000 offenders are released from Riker's Island, New York City's largest jail, or
from New York state prisons. Two-thirds of them will end up back in jail. Behind this
staggering statistic is a familiar tale of individuals being released from jail without
skills, jobs, money or a place to live, and then resorting to crime only to get locked
up again. The lives wasted in this revolving door inspired the creation of Getting Out
& Staying Out (GOSO), a partnership that works to drastically reduce the recidivism rate
for young men incarcerated in New York.
Through its partnership
with the City of New York Department of Correction and the Board of Education, GOSO
recruits young men between the ages of 18 and 24 in sentenced dorms and in Riker's East
River Academy, an alternative school run by the New York City Department of Education, to
help them earn their GED. GOSO volunteer mentors help individuals focus on life skills
and possible career paths to better their chances of success once released.
GOSO urges participants
to come to its office in Harlem within a week of their release, where they receive
psychological and job counseling, tutoring, life skills workshops, referrals to partnering
social service organizations and guidance in adhering to parole and probation
requirements.
GOSO's holistic approach
has proven successful: Since its inception in 2005, fewer than 20% of the 1,000 released
inmates GOSO has worked with have recidivated. The bulk of the former prisoners counseled
by GOSO are employed, attending school or doing both. "GOSO is successful because it
works with young men to plan for re-entry to their communities from the day they're
incarcerated, and then sticks with them over the long term," says Mark Goldsmith, a
retired business executive and GOSO's co-founder. New York City has benefited greatly by
having GOSO working to combat recidivism.
Partners:
Getting Out and Staying Out (GOSO)
City of New York Department of Correction
New York City Board of Education
The Department of Parole and Probation
New York State Department of Correctional Services
Bronx and LaGuardia Community Colleges of the City University of New York
Apex Trade School
Columbia University
Community Service Society
New York Presbyterian Young Men's Clinic
Various New York social service organizations
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