Connecticut Appleseed Center for Law and Justice

CLICCThe Centers Connecting through Literacy Incarcerated Parents, Children and Caregivers program (CLICC) made great further progress in 2019, expanding its presence across the state and working with the children of incarcerated parents. 1) The CLICC program was initiated at the Danbury Federal prison; 2) By the end of 2019, CLICC operates in 6 Connecticuts correctional facilities; 3) In 2019, CLICC had tripled the number of participating incarcerated parents over the comparable 2018 number of parents; and 4) CLICC received support from the CT Department of Corrections.CLICC aims to reduce recidivism and facilitate successful reentry outcomes by reconnecting incarcerated parents and their children by using a family literacy curriculum and providing supportive mentors. After the award a 5-year grant from the State of Connecticut in 2017 that may total up to $662,000, CLICCs contract paid about $90,000 during 2019. CLICC has also received significant additional grants during 2018 from several foundations.CLICC's program mitigates two pressing challenges: 1) below-average literacy rates of incarcerated parents and their children, and 2) strained, often destructive relationships among families which include an incarcerated parent. Reinforcing the literacy skills of re-entering inmates and their children will help to ease their transition, help the family move forward more cohesively and better equip former inmates to enter the workforce.Volunteer mentors meet at the facilities to help parents read books and write letters to their children, while children do similar activities with their own mentors at community sites near their homes. The program also includes childrens caregivers, who tend to have complicated relationships with incarcerated parents, yet are so important to the future of the children and their families. CLICC matches pairs of mentors and children. CLICC mentors serves on average families composed of about 20 parents and 30 children, for a total of 50 participants. CLICC recruits and trains mentors from a wide variety of sources, including universities and community colleges and United Way offices and throughout our communities. CLICCs mentors then work regularly either with parents in the prisons or with their children.During 2019, CT Appleseed developed a plan to spin-off the CLICC program to a new Sec. 501(c)(3) organization. Pro bono services estimated at 238 hours, valued at $25,640. Cash expenses for program = $200,580.

Homeless Experience Legal Protection (HELP)Late in 2018, volunteers from a law firm announced an unprecedented partnership with a corporation's legal department to offer free HELP clinics at the South Park Inn throughout 2019. In December 2019 the law firm / corporate partnership extended its offer to provide clinics at the South Park Inn throughout 2020.In 2017 CT Appleseed revived and expanded its successful HELP project to provide regular volunteer legal assistance at homeless shelters at the South Park Inn in Hartford and Columbus House in New Haven. Attorneys then volunteered to extend this revival throughout 2018, lending in free clinics the expertise from lawyers at three firms, an insurer's law department and the George Crawford Black Bar Association. Pro bono services estimated at 192 hours, valued at $45,560.

Total Program service expenses. For further program service information, refer to Schedule O, and the Summary of In-kind (Pro bono) services. It has not been practicable to allocate total program expenses to each of the major programs.