ARCHS' Community Action Reentry Employment System (CARES) Community Partnership focuses on job training & lifeskills services for ex-offenders returning to the St. Louis region.

Culinary Arts Training

Automotive/Welding Training

Manufacturing Training

ARCHS' CARES Reentry Community Partnership:

Goal: To serve 488 ex-offenders. UPDATE September 2008: ARCHS has exceed its goal in just six months and is on track to serve 680 ex-offenders through its partnerships. 350 have been placed in living wage careers/jobs with a combined economic impact of $5.6 milllion in payroll.

ARCHS' CARES Highlights: (October 2007-September 2008):

• 636 Served – (surpassing goal of 488)
• 200 Graduated from Trainings Programs
• 10 Continuing School
• 350 Placed in Jobs
• $5.6 Million (combined annual salaries of those placed in jobs)
• 126 Employers Hiring Participants
• $7 Million Leveraged/In Kind Dollars Provided by Partners
• 5.6% Recidicism Rate (returing to prison)

ARCHS' CARES Community Partners:

• U.S Department of Labor
• Dr. Brenda Buckley
• Computer Village
• Daruby School
• Employment Connection
• Fathers’ Support Center
• Greenville Federal Prison
• Dr. Ladonna Finch
• Leavenworth Federal Prison
• Marion Federal Prison
• Manufacturing Training Alliance
• MERS Missouri Goodwill
• Mission Gate Christian Ministry
• Missouri Dept. of Corrections
• Missouri Eastern Correctional Center
• Missouri Probation & Parole
• Missouri Reentry Conference Committee
• MOKAN Construction Prep Center
• Nova Source
• Partnership for Success Job Fair
• RANKEN Technical School
• St. Louis Community College
• St. Francis Xavier “College” Church
• Tipton Correctional Center
• U.S. Probation of Eastern Missouri
• Vandalia Correctional Facility

ARCHS’ Reentry Training Programs:

• Automotive
• Carpentry
• Computers
• Construction
• Culinary Arts & Catering
• Customer Service
• Certified Nursing Assistant
• Electric
• Manufacturing
• Masonry
• Plumbing
• Soft Skills (Resumes, Interviewing, etc.)
• Welding

ARCHS' CARES Culinary Success Story

ARCHS' CARES Automotive/Welding Graduates (April 2008)

Ranken Technical College

ARCHS' CARES Culinary Graduates (April 2008)

St. Louis Community College-Forest Park

Graduation Speaker Video

ARCHS' CARES Manufacturing Graduates (May 2008)

Manufacturer's Training Alliance

ARCHS' CARES Customer Service Graduates (May 2008)

St. Louis Community College

ARCHS’ CARES Reentry:

ARCHS’ Community Action Reentry Employment System (CARES) Community Partnership focuses on helping former prisoners with job skill development, job placement, job retention and increased earnings resulting in the reduction of recidivism rates (returning to prison).  ARCHS' CARES was originally funded by a 2007 U.S. Department of Labor grant.

ARCHS uses case management, mentoring, job training, job placement and DOL registered apprenticeship programs to support ex-offenders.

ARCHS’ focused industry tracks parallel projected job growth reports for the St. Louis region and industries targeted by President Bush’s High-Growth Jobs Initiative (construction, automotive, advanced manufacturing, hospitality, and information technology).

ARCHS builds partnerships with the justice system, community groups, faith-based organizations and businesses. Through ARCHS’ CARES, participants benefit from resources focusing on employment, education, substance abuse, housing, mental illness, transportation, family/social support and attitudes/cognitive skills.

ARCHS is a planning and advising partner of Missouri Reentry Process (MRP), a national model created in 2005 by the Governor.  Early recidivism results of MRP are encouraging, with a 12-month rate of 24% compared to 35% for those who did not participate in MRP. ARCHS’ CARES has achieved a 6-month recidivism rate of 5.3%.

ARCHS co-sponsors, with the Missouri Dept. of Corrections and Dept. of Social Services (FACT) and others, an annual statewide Missouri Reentry Conference. By promoting replicable models and sharing best practices, the conference helps to ensure an effective reentry transition back into the community, family and workforce. ARCHS also partners with the U.S. Eastern Dist of Missouri Probation and Parole to host an annual Partnership for Success Job Fair for Reentry.

Need For Reentry in Greater St. Louis:

The City of St. Louis is home to more than 22,500 ex-offenders who have returned from state and federal prisons.  They are coming back to the same challenges faced prior to incarceration, including poverty, high unemployment, and crime.

Prisoners engaged in the reentry process return to a community where the crime rate is three times greater for the City of St. Louis (13,929 crimes per 100,000 residents) than for Missouri (4,415 crimes per 100,000 residents) (Missouri Department of Public Safety, 2004). St. Louis County crime rates fall below the state rate at 3,220 crimes per 100,000 residents.

For more information contact cares@stlarchs.org.