Justice-Involved Individuals & Their Families - Lutheran Foundation of St. Louis

Funding Goal

To support the successful reintegration of justice-involved individuals by restoring their lives, family relationships, and communities, thereby enhancing community stability and public safety.

Overview

The Church—as the Body of Christ—has been called to extend love and grace to those who have been incarcerated (Matthew 25: 36- 40). As the hands and feet of Christ, faith-based organizations (e.g., churches, parishes, congregations, health and human service agencies) play a critical role in supporting justice-involved individuals and their families. In addition, faith-based organizations are viewed as pivotal in deterring antisocial behaviors through the promotion of spiritual values that encourage positive lifestyles and choices.

Researchers and those who work in the field everyday agree that it takes a host of services and individuals to intervene in the life of someone who faces the difficult challenge of rejoining their family and reentering their community. The areas where assistance is most often required are housing, employment, physical and mental health care, transportation, and family support. In order for such services to be successful, they should be designed to be comprehensive, individualized to the person’s needs and abilities, and responsive to how the person is adjusting to reentry. Lutheran Foundation seeks to support such services.

Outcomes

Outcomes describe, in broad terms, the measurable change within each Funding Focus Area that Lutheran Foundation would like to see in the lives of those served by grantees. Outcomes allow the Foundation to aggregate indicators across multiple grantees to determine our community impact.

Organizations seeking funding from the Foundation must demonstrate how their program will address one or more of the following outcomes:

OUTCOME #1

Justice-involved individuals will maintain or experience improved mental, physical and/or spiritual health.

OUTCOME #2

Justice-involved individuals will experience increased pro-social community involvement and stability.

OUTCOME #3

Justice-involved individuals and/or their families will experience increased positive relationships.

While modeling the healing love of Christ, Lutheran Foundation strives to invest in services that show measurable impact in the lives of hurting people. We look to accomplish this by supporting services that are:

Comprehensive and collaborative in addressing the complicated and complex needs of the targeted population;
Responsive to cultural and gender differences;
Family-centered or focused; and
Evidence-based/informed and/or utilize best or promising practices.

Interested applicants must be recognized by and in good standing with the Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) organization, or be sponsored by such an entity. In the latter instance, the sponsoring agency must serve as the lead organization and will be recognized as the fiscal agent for the grant. Collaborative efforts, which are strongly encouraged, should include the tax-exempt letter of the lead agency.

For the Funding Focus Area: Justice-Involved Individuals & Their Families, applicants must provide programs and services to those returning to or residing in the geographic area supported by the Lutheran Foundation which includes the following counties in the St. Louis metropolitan area:

Missouri counties: Franklin, Jefferson, Lincoln, St. Charles, St. Louis City, St. Louis County, and Warren
Illinois counties of Clinton, Jersey, Madison, Monroe, and St. Clair

Regular Grants
Organizations are typically funded by annual grants. Grants may be renewed for up to three years, with a 20-25% decrease each year; however, grantees must apply annually.

Multi-Year Grants
Multi-year grants are available but are less typical and most commonly awarded to organizations and churches that have had a long-term relationship with the Foundation and a history of high performance. Funding for the same program is usually limited to a total of three years.

*NOTE: Lutheran Foundation is highly relational and seeks to develop relationships with our grantees to build mutual understanding and partnership. Organizations that anticipate applying for funding are highly encouraged to request a consultation with Foundation staff.

Funding requests into the Foundation are most often for programmatic support. Organizational support is available for organizations that have an established relationship with the Foundation and are able to demonstrate that the funding will enable the organizations to operate more effectively and sustainably. The following are examples of programs/services/activities which the Foundation will consider for funding (not an exhaustive list):

Program Support

Services that support the successful reintegration of justice-involved individuals such as:
- Employment support services
- Substance abuse treatment
- Mental health treatment
- Educational and vocational programs
- Affordable housing
- Transportation
- Life skills training
- Maintaining and/or developing healthy family relationships or social supports
Case management services
Health care services
Transitional services that build a bridge from incarceration to reentry into the community
Services for spouses, partners, or other significant family members of an individual who has been or is involved in the criminal justice system
Services for children who have a parent who has been or is involved in the criminal justice system
Services for caregivers of children who have a parent who has been or is involved in the criminal justice system

Capacity Building Support

Activities and projects that would contribute to the increased capacity and sustainability of the organization in the long term, such as leadership, fundraising, risk management, and performance management.
Short term activities or one-time expenses that help an organization and/or program operate more effectively, such as new technology, board and staff training/development, and external consulting services, such as strategic planning and program evaluation.

Click here to learn more about capacity building funding.

The Foundation will generally not consider the following requests:

Annual appeals/special events/fundraisers/sponsorships
Grants to specific individuals
Lobbying activities
Operating deficits
Organizations that do not have a 501(c)(3) tax status
Scholarships
Services outside the Foundation’s defined St. Louis metropolitan area

Unless invited by Lutheran Foundation:

Capital campaigns or major capital expenditures that are not directly related to program implementation
Seed money necessary to start a new agency

Specific to the Funding Focus Area Justice-Involved Individuals and Their Families:

In-prison services
Services to youth involved in the criminal justice system

FOUNDATION RESOURCE

Best Practices Search
In 2013, Lutheran Foundation conducted a comprehensive review of effective services for justice-involved individuals.

LOCAL RESOURCES

St. Louis Alliance for Reentry (STAR)
STAR is a community collaborative effort design to enhance justice-involved individual self-sufficiency, reduce recidivism, and improve public safety and community health in St. Louis City and County.

NATIONAL RESOURCES

Council of State Governments Justice Center
CSGJC provides practical, nonpartisan analysis and recommendations for criminal justice policy and practice informed by the best available evidence.

CrimeSolutions.gov
The Office of Justice Programs’ CrimeSolutions.gov provides research on program effectiveness reviewed and rated by Expert Reviewers.

National Reentry Resource Center
Provides education, training, and technical assistance to states, tribes, territories, local governments, service providers, non-profit organizations, and corrections institutions working on prisoner reentry. Excellent source for data on reentry.

Urban Institute
Gathers data, conducts research, evaluates programs, offers technical assistance overseas, and educates Americans on social and economic issues. The organization houses extensive information on prisoners and justice-involved individuals.

What Works in Reentry Clearinghouse
This Clearinghouse offers a “one-stop shop” for research on the effectiveness of a wide variety of reentry programs and practices.