Ron and Cathy Tijerina, Executive Directors of The RIDGE Project presented their work at the 12th Annual National Fathers and Families Conference. The conference was held in San Francisco, March 1-4, 2011.
Ron and Cathy joined Shepherding the Next Generation in 2010 at a Prison Fellowship Conference in Ohio.
Their workshop was standing room only with 60 participants from across the nation attending. They presented the vital importance of stabilizing fragile families in order to stop the cycles of fatherlessness, poverty and crime. The workshop was designed to equip social service providers with information and strategies to work with families of incarcerated fathers. The Assistant Secretary of HHS shared that 7.5 million children have a parent in the justice system in America. The Ridge Project’s Keeping FAITH (Families And Inmates Together in Harmony) program is working to create healthy, stable and safer families and communities for children to thrive.
A recent independent study of The RIDGE Project’s Keeping FAITH (Families And Inmates Together in Harmony) program found that the program has substantially improved the family relationships of its participants, and that doing so has resulted in significantly lower recidivism rates than the state and national average. The study based its findings on nearly four years of pre and post surveys from The RIDGE’s clients, and on data from the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.
In 2006, The RIDGE Project, formed the Keeping FAITH division of the organization. This division works with families where the father and/or spouse is incarcerated in the state prison system. Since it has been implemented, the Keeping FAITH Program has served 3420 incarcerated fathers and their family members. The program lasts 24 weeks, and is currently utilized in 8 of Ohio’s prisons. As of May, 2010, none of the inmates who have been released for one year or more after successfully completing the program have committed a new crime. Of those who were in the program but were released prior to completing, only 5% have committed a new crime within one year of their release. This lowered recidivism rate is saving taxpayers nearly $1 million dollars per year, and is making our communities safer and more prosperous.
Pray for Ron and Cathy and their ministry in Ohio.