The Connecticut Association for Human Services (CAHS) Returning Citizens Program engages individuals who are six months to a year from being released and/or are currently in reentry programs. Using the CAHS Connecticut Money School curriculum, the program will focus on preventing soon-to-released individuals from struggling with money or other financial issues. Bills and debts DO accumulate during incarceration. Struggle with financial barriers for the re-entry community increases recidivism rates are, for example, people who have been incarcerated have a 69% drop in credit scores, resulting in both pre and post-incarceration debts, which impact access to housing, employment, and financial products, and increases the likelihood of recidivism by 15–20%.
For more information on this program, please contact Dwight Davis at ddavis@cahs.org or 860-951-2212 x231.
The goal of the program is to help returning citizens:
Additionally, through the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) Program:
Tax refunds can go towards paying down financial obligations, transferred to commissary accounts to use towards the purchase of items needed, which will, in turn, be less of a financial burden on their families.
When returning citizens are a year to 6 months from being released, they can participate in CAHS financial capability programming, apply for a Bank On certified checking account, and the monies from their refunds can be deposited into their new, affordable account.