Faith Communities Supporting Offenders Project
This project has developed under the umbrella of
the
Cumbria Reducing Offending Partnership Trust (CROPT). The Faith
Communities Supporting Offenders Project is a partnership between Cumbria
Methodist District, Churches Together in Cumbria, Cumbria Probation Service and
the Mothers Union.
The project recruits and trains volunteers to work with offenders and their
families, in order to reduce the likelihood of re-offending, across a wide range
of existing projects, and encourages and trains local church communities to
develop their own local community outreach projects to reduce offending.
A series of roadshows were held across Cumbria in summer and autumn 2008, both
to provide information to faith communities about the causes and consequences of
offending and the value of supportive intervention in breaking the cycle of
re-offending, and to recruit volunteers from the churches. Nearly 120 people
attended these meetings and about 30 new volunteers were recruited to work in a
wide variety of projects including:
- Haverigg Prison Visitors Centre play area
- Haverigg Prison League of Friends
- Scafell Project Carlisle
- Prospects - an employment project, also under the auspices of CROPT, which is recruiting mentors to be alongside offenders in their first few months of employment.
- Mentoring at a hostel for high risk offenders.
Project officer Ian Gibson started work in
November 2008 and is busy supporting volunteers, matching them with projects,
developing new project contacts and working on further volunteer recruitment.
If you would like to know more about the project or might be interested in
volunteering in any kind of capacity to support offenders or their families and
so help to reduce the rate of re-offending in our communities, please contact
Ian Gibson: ian.gibson50@googlemail.com