Mayor Joseph P. Ganim
Bridgeport, CT
For Immediate Release For More Information:
October 13, 2016 Av Harris (203) 814-7992
av.harris@bridgeportct.gov
-Press Release-
Mayor Ganim, Senator Murphy, Career Resources Inc. Open the Jay Brothers Unified Second Chance Resource Center
Center on East Side of Bridgeport to Provide Coordinated Services for Returning Citizens Seeking Employment Post-Incarceration
Bridgeport, CT – Mayor Joe Ganim, Senator Chris Murphy, State Senator Ed Gomes and Bridgeport City Council members Nessah Smith and Anthony Paoletto joined Career Resources Inc. and other area nonprofit organizations to cut the ribbon for the grand opening of The Jay Brothers Unified Resource Center (JBURC) designed to help the formerly incarcerated seek employment and return to society. This unique second chance community center is the first of its kind in the state. It will concentrate diverse services in one location for those Bridgeport residents returning from incarceration. Some services include: guided mediation, yoga, emotion management, mentoring for parent/child literacy, family reunification, and vocational services.
“Bridgeport is a second chance city and that is why we welcome this amazing center to our community to help anyone who may have made a mistake in their past put their careers and lives back together,” said Mayor Ganim. “As a second chance mayor I know personally how difficult it can be for returning citizens to get the training and services necessary to be a strong candidate for a job. The establishment of this center will help many residents of our city get what they need to get back into the workforce. We are truly grateful to all who worked so hard to make the dream Jay Brothers had to help those in need a reality. It will be a huge help not only to our second chance individuals but also for Bridgeport area employers who are looking for good people.”
JBURC is a partnership with the Bridgeport community agencies from the Bridgeport Reentry Collaborative that have come together to provide one-stop wrap around services for the anticipated returning citizens of the Bridgeport community. The facility, operated by Recovery Network of Programs (RNP), was designed to serve citizens with past convictions with hopes of ensuring a successful reentry.
The following services are available for program participants:
- Career resources
- Housing assistance
- Vocational training
- Educational and literacy services
- Transition to primary care services
- Recovery coaching services and peer mentoring
- Health and holistic wellness services
- Licensed behavioral health services including individual, group and family outpatient treatment; intensive outpatient treatment care; case management, crisis intervention, problem gambling treatment; psychiatric evaluations and medication monitoring.
The center is named after Jay Brothers, a former addict and advocate for recovery. Brothers was raised in the New Haven area. At the young age of 17 he enlisted in the United States Army where he proudly served not just stateside, but overseas in Germany as well. It was some time after returning to the civilian world when he found himself in the midst of addiction and began his journey into the world of recovery. In 1988, Jay achieved his first year of sobriety which drove him to dedicate his life to helping others who were facing the same battle he had so recently won. He pursued a notable career as a substance abuse counselor saving others as he had been saved starting with the Children’s Center of Hamden and moving onto APT Foundation of Bridgeport, the Yale University Forensic Drug Diversion Clinic, the Connecticut VA Healthcare System, and finally the Center for Change of New Haven. Brothers unfortunately passed away in 2015 from a brain tumor, leaving behind his wife of 15 years, two daughters and one grandson.
The Jay Brothers Unified Resource Center is located on the East Side of Bridgeport and is accessible by car and directly on the Greater Bridgeport Transit #13 bus line. Parking is free with handicap accessibility. The center is open Monday thru Friday 9:00am to 8:00 p.m. For more information call: (203) 416-8901.
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