The RIDGE Project, Inc. is a Christian, 501(c)(3) non ...storage.cloversites.com/theridgeproject/documents/The Ridge Projec… · The RIDGE Project, Inc. is a Christian, 501(c)(3)

The RIDGE Project, Inc. is a Christian, 501(c)(3) non-profit that was founded in 2001 with the goal of empowering, strengthening, and healing families by building strong, thriving relationships. We serve fathers, families, and youth. We fight to make our communities safer by breaking the generational patterns of imprisonment, welfare dependency, fatherlessness, violence, and living in mediocrity. Together with our partners, we reach over 20,000 Ohio families each year. Our motto: Impacting Individuals ~ Liberating Generations!

ContentsPrison Re-entry Pages 2-3Youth Development Pages 4-5Community Statistics Pages 6-7Ron and Catherine Page 8Contact Us Page 9

Prison Re-entry

UNIQUE STRATEGY Our unique re-entry approach begins by focusing on healing families through our 36 week Keeping FAITH (Families And Inmates Together In Harmony) programming that in-volves both the incarcerated father and their partners – a strategy that has proven to reduce re-cidivism by 61%! Unlike other family programs, Keeping FAITH attacks the cultural barriers of incarceration to produce responsible, healthy fathers, families, and citizens. Where possible, we involve the children of our clients in our youth program, to prevent them from following their parent’s negative behavior and to truly rehabilitate and heal the entire family.

Our intensive and interactive program is a fatherhood, marriage and family strengthen-ing project developed specifically to address the unique obstacles families face when the father/husband is incarcerated.

Statistics show that if a man can success-fully re-enter his family, then he can successfully re-enter society. Effective communication is paramount in maintaining healthy relationships, and most, if not all, of our clients lack even ba-sic skills. We begin our training with a six-week course (Couple Communication I) that teaches our fathers and their respective partner collabora-tive marriage and basic communication skills. The RIDGE Project, Inc. is the only organization to offer classes like this in which the incarcerated fa-ther’s partner can take a class with him on a recur-ring basis.

After the six-week course is completed, we work exclusively with the fathers for twelve weeks to focus on intensive character development (Keeping FAITH I). We teach the fathers to own responsibility for their actions, and prepare them to overcome the obstacles of their incarceration and transition back into their homes and communities successfully and perma-nently. Upon successful completion of this session, a father earns the title of TYRO, which means a warrior, or someone learning something new. These fathers now stand as warriors for their families; defending their children and their legacies and embracing their role as father as the highest call on their life.

We then bring spouses back in for a six-week advanced communication class (Couple Communication II) where we teach conflict resolution, anger management and relationship stability.

The final stage (Keeping FAITH II) is in the process of being developed, and will be an additional twelve-week intensive character development, job readiness, employability and re-entry planning course for the fathers.

PERMANENTLY EFFECTIVE All of our programs are thoroughly evaluated and consistently show statistically signifi-cant changes among our program participants! Among our most promising results are increas-es in healthy communication, stronger and healthier family relationship ties, 61% decrease in recidivism rates and increase in positive behaviors overall among program participants!

Prison Re-entry Youth Development Community Statistics Ron and Catherine Contact Us

Prison Re-entry (cont.)

FISCALLY REWARDING The cost to administer The RIDGE Project’s Keeping Faith program is $512 per father for a year of service that keeps our prisons safer and prepares fathers to return to our neigh-borhoods focused on raising their children, instead of the crime rate. The RIDGE Project partners with Ohio DRC, 13 prisons,* Harbor Behavioral Care & Career Connections, 2 Do-mestic Violence experts, numerous faith-based and community based organizations, National Hispanic Family and Youth Outreach and the Ohio Job Center to ensure our families have access to the services they need to re-build their lives on a solid foundation.

SOCIALLY REWARDING By serving incarcerated fathers, we activate a new breed of fathers. Fathers deter-mined and committed to stopping the cycles of welfare dependency and incarceration that have plagued their families for generations. When fathers stay out of prison, they help keep their children out of prison. This is especially transformational to minority and traditionally under served communities, as they constitute a higher percentage of prison populations.

*Toledo Correctional Institution, Toledo Correctional Camp, Correctional Treatment Facility of Toledo, Trumbull Correctional Institution, Montgomery Education and Pre-Release Center, Dayton Correctional Institution, Allen Correctional Institution, Mansfield Correctional Institution, Mansfield Correctional Camp, Richland Correctional Institution, London Correctional In-stitution, Belmont Correctional Institution, Pickaway Correctional Institution (We will be adding a 14th Institution – North-west Community Corrections Center – in January of 2010)


Youth Development

Our youth outreach is designed to help kids succeed; whether at-risk youth or potential leaders. We meet them where they are and help them get to where they need to be. The RIDGE Project provides in-school and after-school pro-gramming and group mentoring, as well as leadership oppor-tunities through the Ohio Youth Congress. We take at-risk youth and make them into leaders, and we take leaders and show them how to succeed. We bring healing for the hurting, and teach the healed how to serve others. For youth who are

struggling, we have hope. For youth who are unsure what their future looks like, we have di-rection. We empower young adults to identify and reach their highest potential by helping them build the mindset and strength of character necessary to overcome adversity so that they become a solution, rather than a statistic.

OUR APPROACH We serve our youth by offering a rites of passage program. This program empowers youth to identify and reach their highest potential – equipping them with the skills to overcome any ob-stacle so that they can be the leaders of the next generation and helping them become a source of strength for their family and community. Specifically, we focus on development in the following areas:

PERSONAL: Life can seem hard and unfair, but our ability to love, struggle, and overcome obstacles produces the fruit of our labor and gives us the faith to carry on.

MENTAL: Obtaining knowledge is a life-long and life enriching process. We must develop the thirst and the skills for the acquisi-tion of knowledge.

PHYSICAL: Your health, nutrition, hygiene, and physical activi-ties determine how you will live and how you grow.

SOCIAL: The world, the community, and your family should benefit—not suffer—from your presence on this earth.

EMOTIONAL: Identifying feelings, learning the difference be-tween responses and reactions, reinforcing emotional honesty with self and others.

ECONOMIC: The responsibility of establishing and maintaining a sound economic foundation is basic to becoming an adult and building a family and community.

POLITICAL: Taking an active role in community, local, state and federal government is one of the necessary keys for self-determination.

HISTORICAL: Your “present” is connected to your “past.” Knowledge of your heritage inspires growth and reinforces the struggle for individual and community growth.

CULTURAL: Our culture is the framework for our values, perceptions and interactions in this world.


Youth Development (cont.)

OUR SCOPEWe are currently serving 7 school districts and a youth detention center, across 6 counties, with 265 youth participants. Our program’s focus is specifically tailored to meet the needs of youth who live in the current American social and political context.

LASTING RESULTS All of our programs are thoroughly evaluated and con-sistently show statistically significant changes among our program participants! A study by the University of Miami reports that 91% of the youth that complete our programming can now say no to risky behaviors such as drug and alcohol use.

This rites of passage program is different from other youth intervention programs because most are only focused on one particular area of life (drug prevention, safe sex, etc.). Instead, this program recognizes the powerful need to address the overall development of the child; it is not restricted to crisis intervention. This

program has been designed for every child, regardless of his/her risk profile. The underlying idea is to move all children into adulthood. The essential goal is to prepare boys to be respon-sible men and girls to be responsible women.


Community Statistics

RISING DIRECT COST OF INCARCERATION:

According to a recent Vera Institute report, corrections expenditures are the second fastest growing general fund expenditure, second only to Medicaid. The average annual cost to incarcer-ate a man in Ohio is $24,736.50 (This is higher than the national average cost of $22,000)

THE COST DRAMATICALLY INCREASES WHEN A FATHER IS INCARCERATED An ODRC study in 2004 suggests that at least 51.6% of incarcerated men had at least one child less than 18 years of age. Overall, the average incarcerated father has 2.1 children. When a father is incarcerated, it is six times more likely that his children will land in prison at some point in their life. This presents a significant cost to both the state and taxpayers, as the average annual cost to incarcerate a juvenile in Ohio is $86,000. This also poses a significant cost to the schools, residents and business in Ohio’s local communities. The Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) estimates that the costs to the nation’s businesses related to theft and vandalism is well over $650 billion per year. Of this figure, it must be taken into account that nearly half of all arson and van-dalism in the U.S. is done by juveniles.


Community Statistics (cont.)

There are additional costs if the incarcerated man’s children are daughters. Studies have shown that in the father’s absence, the risk to young women of teen pregnancy and becoming a teenage parent significantly increases. The costs of childbearing are greatest for younger teens. In Ohio, the average annual cost associated with a child born to a mother 17 and younger is $4,534. A new analysis from the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy shows that teen childbearing in Ohio cost taxpay-ers at least $352 million in 2004.

In addition, the partner of the incarcerated father is often left with a crushing financial burden, and typically receives some sort of welfare assistance. In 2006, the State of Ohio spent over $17 bil-lion on assistance to needy families.

There are currently over 29,600 incarcerated fathers in Ohio. Considering all of the various associated costs, father incarceration has a hidden price tag that is significantly higher than just the cost of housing an inmate. This high price strips states, local communities and businesses of valuable resources and the high annual price only keeps increasing!

In contrast, The RIDGE Project’s unique approach strengthens fami-lies, and presents a permanent solution. The cost of the RIDGE PROJECT’s programming is only $512 per family, and has proven to reduce recidivism by over 61%. That is a one-time cost of $512, compared to annual costs that are astronomical.


Ron and Catherine

Ron and Catherine Tijerina are the co-founders and co-directors of The RIDGE Project. Ron Tijerina, formerly known as inmate 250-397, was incarcerated 15 years for a crime he did not commit. In the early years of Ron’s incarceration, he and Cath-erine both developed a personal relationship with Christ and committed their lives to serving Him.

During those difficult 15 years, they overcame many ob-stacles including welfare, social prejudice, poor lifestyle choices, and a host of other issues inherent to family separation as a result of incarceration (the Tijerinas had two young sons when Ron began serv-ing his sentence). Ron learned to function as a husband and father from behind bars while Catherine “overcame welfare” on the outside. In spite of the hardships they en-dured, they built a new life together for their children; one free of shame and embarrassment.

Through their experience they founded The RIDGE Project, Inc. and devel-oped the Keeping FAITH (Families And Inmates Together in Harmony) program. Today, they work diligently to serve families as well as to educate communities, churches, and policy makers about the importance of abstinence and relationship edu-cation within youth development and re-entry programs. They believe teaching self-control and building healthy relationships is a vital ingredient in prevention of most of the social ills that plague our nation (fatherlessness, welfare dependency, cycles of crime and incarceration, drug and alcohol addictions, etc.). In addition, they are ad-vocates for those overcoming the culture of incarceration and battle against the social prejudices that are rampant against the formerly incarcerated and their families.

Because of their passion to make a difference in the lives of those who come be-hind them, The RIDGE Project has now become nationally recognized as one of the most successful family, fatherhood, and youth service organizations in the nation.


Contact Us

www.theridgeproject.com

Phone: (419) 782-1511Fax: (419) 782-1577

717 Perry StreetDefiance, OH 43512

Email: [email protected]


http://www.theridgeproject.com

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The RIDGE Project, Inc. is a Christian, 501(c)(3) non ...storage.cloversites.com/theridgeproject/documents/The Ridge Projec… · The RIDGE Project, Inc. is a Christian, 501(c)(3)