Pictured from left: Robert LaBenne, Parole Manager; Rita Masi, director of customer service, Fayette County Community Action Agency; Mallory McCune, project manager, Fayette County Community Action Agency; Vince Karabin, CRPA.
Fayette County Community Action Agency, Inc. (FCCAA) was recognized during National Reentry Week for their successful implementation and operation of their Home 4 Good – Justice Involved program that provides rapid rehousing of persons exiting state correctional facilities who experience difficulty establishing a place to live and an effective home plan.
Performance objectives for the FCCAA program include a reduction in the number of identified individuals experiencing homelessness and an increase in homelessness prevention. Through housing services, comprehensive case management, and close monitoring, the program works to minimize recidivism, increase community safety, and save taxpayer money.
According to Community Reentry Parole Agent Vince Karabin, estimated savings to taxpayers are approximately $45,000 per individual annually. “With the 36 individuals FCCAA has served alone in the first two years of this program, Pennsylvania taxpayers have been saved over $1.5 million,” Karabin said.
Through partnership with the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency, the Federal Home Loan Bank Pittsburgh, State Correctional Institutions, Community Correction Centers, and landlords, FCCAA has provided released individuals throughout Butler, Clarion, Clearfield, Fayette, Greene, Indiana, Venango, Warren, Washington, and Westmoreland Counties with housing assistance as the first step toward successful reentry into society and movement toward self-sufficiency.
Mallory McCune, FCCAA project manager, said, “Through this program and the coordination of supportive services it provides, especially involving our partners in each of the individual counties, we have seen 11 individuals complete the program and of those, 9 of them succeed in gaining employment and taking over the lease for their housing on their own. So far in year two, 8 individuals have successfully completed the program.”