Statements

Mission

The mission of Dismas House is to improve lives and strengthen communities by providing the formerly incarcerated with holistic reentry programming that breaks the cycle of incarceration.

Background

Dismas House is a 501(c)(3) serves men recently released from incarceration with affordable housing and an evidence-based reentry program designed to reduce recidivism. In 1974, the late Father Jack Hickey, O.P., along with The Vanderbilt Prison Project (a studentlead organization), recognized the vulnerability of and lack of services available to individuals released from incarceration in Tennessee. Dismas House was founded on the idea that by living together, former inmates and college students would mutually benefit each other as they transiton into a independent lifestyle and mainstream society. The Dismas House program takes its name from the penetant thief at Calvary (Luke 23:39-43), in the spirit of welcoming forgiveness. Programming is designed to create a family-like atmosphere; hence the slogan, "Dismas is Family." This slogan personifies a value system that recognizes the dignity and value of person. While at Dismas House, residents often reconnect and rebuild relationships with their own family members, and we offer family reunification counseling as well as co-parenting support. Through community involvement, residents learn how to positively interact in social settings without the fear of having to maintain "institutionalized" survival mechanisms. Along with staff, members of the community provide programming or volunteer to welcome returning citizens back into mainstream society. Dismas House programming is designed to empower residents so they depart as an active and positive member of society. Core services cover basic human needs and include: shelter, food, clothing, technology and transportation. Participants of the Dismas program are required to stay a minimum of 90 days to participate in the development and execution of a client-specific re-entry plan. Holistic programming assists the former inmate progress toward self-sufficiency, the ultimate goal, by focusing on positive social behaviors, overcoming addictive behaviors and where applicable managing health concerns, identifying long-term housing, and building wealth. In addition to tangible gains, successful program participants are likely to depart Dismas with a greater sense of self-worth and an optimistic outlook.

Impact

Tennessee Department of Correction data (2020) shows a recidivism rate, or likelihood that an individual will return to prison within three years, of 46.0% in Tennessee. This means that for every two persons who are released from prisons in Tennessee, one will return within three years. A recent national, longitudinal study from the Institute of Justice, Research and Development (2021) found that within nine years, four of five formerly incarcerated individuals will return to prison. Research has shown that there are interventions found in stable, permanent housing, community support, employment, education, and recovery support services can help stop the revolving door of recidivism. These interventions are directly attributable to improving the healthy thinking patterns, meaningful work trajectories, effective coping strategies, positive social engagement, and positive interpersonal relationships. We built our holistic programming on the 5 Key model, the Substance Abuse, Mental Health Services Administration's (SAMHSA's) four dimensions of home, health, purpose, and community, and our 49 years of experience serving the reentry population.

Dismas House offers diverse and comprehensive recovery support services that treat the whole person. All staff are ACEs trained and take a trauma-informed approach to resident care. Our recovery services are also in direct alignment with SAMHSA's Ten Guiding Principles of Recovery and are integrated into the four pillars of programming. The Dismas House reentry program is 90 days and is accomplished in 3 phases, each achieved by reaching key goals. Once the 90-day program is completed, residents remain on campus in Phase 4 - the stabilization phase, and continue to accomplish the goals they identified and may add new ones. When a resident decides to leave, their case manager assists them in finding other suitable housing and creating an exit strategy to identify support services.

The Institute of Justice, Research and Development research indicates that a focus on strengths and wellbeing is the best approach to maximizing public health and public safety. We will be tracking Dismas graduates for 3 years to see if our holistic approach enables us to achieve the the projected 10% recidivism rate for residents on the new campus. CUrrently Cohort 1 has a one year rate of return of 2.5% and Cohort 2 has a one year rate of return of 0% compared to the State of Tennessee's rate to 26%. Cohort 1 has a 2 year rate of return of 6% compare to the State of Tennessee's 37%. We attribute the improvement in 1 year rates of return between the first and second year cohort to the addition of clinical programming and relapse prevention plans.

We have also added a Dismas without walls program in partnership with the Davidson County Sheriff's Office, Behvioral Care Center (BCC) and the Mental Health Cooperative to provide supportive employment services to justice involved men and women who participate in the BCC for 15 days. The BCC is staffed byMental Health Cooperative to help individuals work through their mental health crisis. Upon completion of the 15 days there records are expunged and they are released to the community. We continue to work with interested individuals to futher stabilize them with meaningful employment. Our data shows that 80% of individuals who are placed through our program are still working.

Needs

Dismas House covers the basic needs of food, shelter, clothing and appreciate the communities generosity providing clothing, hygiene products, and sundries such as umbrellas, travel coffee mugs, and water bottles. We also need sheets, towels, pillows and comforters. We are always looking to expand our network of second chance employers and prefer employers who provide a living wage and benefits package. We have community dinners Monday through Thursday evening and community volunteers can sign up to serve dinner and help detigmatize the effects of incarceration. We also need mentors, to help provide friendship and guidance to our residents.

CEO Statement

Dismas House has completed our third year of operation on our new campus and welcomed 123 men this past fiscal year. We added two new state grants, and staff size grew to 22 full time and 1 part time employee. Programming improvements were made at intake to increase focus on relapse prevention, and classes were added for noncustodial parents to improve family and interpersonal communications and improve thier meal preparation and nutrition skills. The clinical team remained focused on untreated mental health, trauma, and substance use disorders, and we incorporated graduate student interns into our programming under the supervision of the Clinical Director to ensures we can provide residents with all the therapeutic support they need. Having a clinical component completed our evidence based programming and we them implemented an assessment tool to assist case managers in helping our resident create personalized reentry plans to improve thier chance for success. Recidivism is a 3 year measure and the results Cohort 1 first quartile graduates won't be known until October of 2023, but thier 2 year rate of return is 6% and is a leading indicator that we are on track to achieve our 10% recidivism goal.

The new Dismas House campus is a valuable community resource, and the quality of our programming is aligned to the standard of excellence as identified by the Institute for Justice Research and Development. Dismas House provides holistic evidence-based programming to effectively shape the post-release experience of our residents. The addition of our supportive employment program is designed to bring stability and employment support to justice involved members of the community. Both these approached enables us to fulfill our mission to improve lives, build stronger communities, and break the cycle of incarceration.

We are up for the challenge and cannot wait to share the success stories us as our journey unfolds.

Kay Kretsch

Board Chair Statement

There has never been a more exciting time for Dismas House. After faithfully serving hundreds of men transition from incarceration to freedom for over forty years in our home on Music Row, we have recently moved to our new 72-bed campus on 2424 Charlotte Avenue.

We are thankful for the dreams of those that made this a reality. We are indebted to those who have spent countless hours in planning and executing this new campus. We are humbled by the generosity of those individuals, companies and organizations that have contributed financially to make this all a reality. We are grateful to those businesses, banks, consultants, lawyers, architects, designers, and other non-profits that have generously shared their talents. We are blessed to have a dedicated Board and Advisory Board. Our staff has been the bedrock of these efforts. We are eternally grateful to our CEO and previous board chair Kay Kretsch for her countless hours of dedication to planning for the new Dismas House.

The future holds challenges:
• We are unwavering in our dedication to ensure that as Dismas House moves and grows that we do not lose the family orientation of our program.
• We are committed to raising the funds to make this a financially sound step into the future so that we can serve hundreds of more men each year.
• We will find new ways expand the services we offer our residents.

None of what Dismas House does is possible without your support. We need your prayers, your volunteer time and your money. We pledge to be good stewards of all you give.

Thanks,
Steve

Service Categories
Primary Category:	Housing, Shelter  - Housing & Shelter NEC
Secondary Category:	Human Services  - Centers to Support the Independence of Specific Populations
Tertiary Category:	Employment  - Vocational Rehabilitation

Areas Served

Dismas House is located in Davidson County and accepts applications from men in prisons or county jails throughout the state of Tennessee. Currently residnets have represented 58 counties of the 96 counties in Tennessee.

TN

TN - Davidson