THE FORTUNE SOCIETY (NY)

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Program Description
The Fortune Society was established as a self-help and advocacy organization in the late 1960s. It eventually expanded its mission to include educating the public on criminal justice issues and providing comprehensive direct services to former prisoners. The Fortune Society has long believed in having a strong representation of former prisoners on the board and among the staff. According to the organization's bylaws, one-third of the board must consist of former prisoners, including the board president. Currently, over two-thirds of the staff (including nearly all of the counselors) are former prisoners and/ or people in recovery. The organization provides a variety of services to about 2,000 former prisoners annually in its various office locations and residential facilities. They focus their efforts on prisoners returning to seven communities in New York City, which account for three-quarters of all prisoners in the state (Harlem, Lower East Side of Manhattan, Brownsville, East New York, Bedford Stuyvesant in Brooklyn, the South Bronx and Jamaica, and Queens).

Fortune provides a comprehensive range of services to returning prisoners, including reentry planning before release, HIV education, counseling and case management, individual and group counseling, job training and placement, court advocacy, substance abuse treatment services, family counseling and parenting workshops, transitional housing and long-term housing placement, and aftercare services.

Fortune has developed two new programs that further expand its reach to serve more former prisoners and their families. The Fortune Academy, a new residential facility in West Harlem, provides 59 emergency and longer-term beds and access to Fortune Society's array of supportive services. Many housing programs, especially government-funded programs, require applicants to have been drug-free for a certain period of time or exclude individuals with certain criminal backgrounds (drug or violent offenses). Fortune's model for providing housing services is unique in that the only criterion is that prospective residents be homeless former prisoners who appear to pose no current risk of violence and are interested in and appropriate for the services being provided. Fortune also recently developed a new 24-hour drop-in center in Queens for prisoners released from Rikers Island. The drop-in center meets critical needs of newly released prisoners such as transportation from the bus stop at all hours and immediate connection to the community and services including emergency housing at Fortune Academy.

Program Goals
The Fortune Society's mission is to raise public awareness about criminal justice issues and provide former prisoners with the services and skills they need to break the cycle of crime and incarceration and build productive lives in their communities. The overarching goal of Fortune's reentry services is to meet emergency crisis needs and then to assist former prisoners in building new, healthy lives, including finding stable housing, obtaining a job, improving their health, and avoiding contact with the criminal justice system.

Networking, Partnering & Collaboration
The Fortune Society has collaborated with many organizations to carry out programs for former prisoners and continues to rely on other agencies for services they do not provide directly. Fortune has developed a strong referral base for such services as mental health, employment, primary care, and residential drug treatment services. Over three decades, this network has grown to include more than 100 organizations in the community. Most recently, Fortune was funded to collaborate with several community-based organizations to create a tightly linked network of service providers to serve those with chronic substance abuse histories and to track them as they pass through the treatment network.

Outcomes
No outcome data for The Fortune Society's reentry services were provided. Fortune Society has an in-house research and evaluation department that is responsible for the evaluation of its services, including collecting, maintaining, and analyzing program and client-level data. See http://www.fortunesociety.org for details.

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