Press Releases

PRESS RELEASE

QVCC workers laid off due to unresolved budget issues

Released: June 30, 2009

Susan Breault, Marketing/Public Relations Associate

(860) 412-7300

sbreault@qvcc.commnet.edu

 

DANIELSON, CT –  Contracts end today for the five employees of the STRIDE program, which operates out of Quinebaug Valley Community College, who have been caught in the State’s fiscal crisis.

 

The STRIDE Program (STRIDE stands for skills, transition, respect, integrity, direction & employment) provides incarcerated and paroled non-custodial women from the York Correctional Institute, Niantic, CT and men from the Bergin Correctional Facility, Storrs, CT, with occupational and job search skills and resources necessary to enter competitive employment positions. The goal of STRIDE is to prepare ex-offenders for gainful employment and reunification with their families. 

 

Julie Scrapchansky, STRIDE program coordinator, stated,”In light of the forthcoming layoff, we are confident that Governor Rell will make the right choice to reinstate the STRIDE Program. There has been an influx of calls from worried participants over the past few weeks. We have set-up an E-Mail account to maintain some kind of continuation of care during this period.  We are currently assisting ex-offenders in Bridgeport, Danielson, Groton, Hartford, New Haven, Norwich, Putnam, Storrs, Waterbury and Willimantic.”

 

QVCC President Dianne Williams stated, “Participants in the community have lost their support structure, and the program in the prisons will cease. It is a testament to the commitment of these women that they will continue to provide some short term assistance electronically as volunteers.” 

 

Program Hi-lights:

  • 5 STRIDE Program Employees
  • 752 Participants served since program inception in 1999
  • 80% of participants reunite with their families
  • Reduced recidivism rates:       State of Connecticut  — 39%

      STRIDE Participants  —    7% (Average from program inception)

  • More than $7.8 million dollars in cost savings to the State (based upon $80.84 incarceration cost per day)
  • $250,000 Cost to run STRIDE Program annually

 

For more information about STRIDE, contact strideprogram@yahoo.com . STRIDE information is also available at http://www.qvcc.commnet.edu/STRIDE/ . 

 

Quinebaug Valley Community College serves the region of Windham County in northeastern Connecticut.

 The main campus located in Danielson, Connecticut was established in 1971 and the

Willimantic Center opened in 1986.