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Operation Outward Reach
For Inmates of the State Prison System,
Operation Outward Reach Provides Training
through Community Service.
Based in Youngwood, PA,
Operation Outward Reach provides training and
counseling for inmates of the State’s prison
system.
The longest running division of Operation
Outward Reach is the Community Restoration Works
Program. With CReW, participants learn the
skills of masonry and carpentry, as well as job
discipline and tool maintenance. Projects
benefit the rural elderly, low-income, and
non-profit organizations, while classroom time
prepares the inmates for blueprint reading,
construction math, estimating, and safety
procedures.
CReW’s history stretches back to 1972, when it
originated as “Repairs on Wheels,” a project of
Greensburg’s State Correctional Facility. One
sign of the program’s success is the lobby wall
in Operation Outward Reach’s Youngwood office.
It is covered with awards and plaques of
appreciation, one of which bears the signature
of former President Bill Clinton. An estimate of
cost savings achieved by Operation Outward Reach
between 1990 and 1997 is at least $5,874,000.
Others signs of success are more personal.
Program graduate D.J. Watkins acquired a job
with Unifirst Corporation of New Kensington,
where his recent promotions to team leader and
route driver show that the efforts of Operation
Outward Reach, combined with the dedication of
sincere inmates, results in adding skilled
tradesmen to the workforce, as well as returning
valued citizens to their families and
communities.
“In preparing to reenter the community, inmates
need more than vocational training and a GED,”
explained OOR President Ray Thompson. “How do
you relate to your family, wife, and children
after years of incarceration? How do you do deal
with a demanding boss, resolve conflicts with
co-workers, or set and achieve meaningful
goals?”
ESCAPe is designed specifically to impact the
emotionally intelligent behavior of pre-release
inmates. It includes individual and group
counseling. The goal is to assist inmates in
developing self-awareness and control of a
variety of emotional skills, including mood
management, problem solving, and interpersonal
skills.
“Emotional Intelligence,” said Ray Thompson,
“often stops developing for those who become
involved in drugs and crime. Things like
self-regard, empathy, impulse control, problem
solving, and even basic optimism go out the
window. Using a tool called the BarOn Emotional
Quotient Inventory, we can assess an inmate’s
beginning emotional intelligence, and then
assess any changes over the course of the
program.”
Operation Outward Reach and its CReW and ESCAPe
programs offer more than a local success story.
Reduced recidivism and lower prison costs are
the smallest part of the story. Lives both in
and out of prison are being affected positively
by the continuing work of OOR, an agency not
content with its decades long history of
service, but which even today looks toward the
future in establishing a model counseling
program which may one day benefit communities
across the nation.
For more information on Operation Outward
Reach
and its programs, please visit the website at
www.operationoutwardreach.org.
You may also contact them via email at,
crew.oor72@comcast.net or by phone at
1-800-253-5719.
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