At a meeting of the Kansas Social Services Policy Council on Jan, 4, 2017, Gov. Brownback discussed the merits of mentoring and held up the KDOC’s program as a model of life-changing success.

The governor described his own experience mentoring a former KDOC offender, calling it “a great experience.”

“He had been through quite a bit in his life,” Gov. Brownback said. “He’s really turning his life around, and it’s really encouraging.”

Mentoring4Success, the KDOC mentoring program, matches inmates, both adults and juveniles, with mentors. This positive relationship helps inmates prepare to reintegrate into society, and gives them the best chance of staying out of the corrections system. Since July 2011, the program has made 7,522 adult matches. Since July 2014, Juvenile Services has made 252 matches.

The council heard from representatives of several state-sponsored mentoring programs, some of which are in a more developmental stage. The Governor asked KDOC Mentoring Director Gloria Geither to describe some of what makes the KDOC program so successful. She described the role of mentors in helping with employment, housing and positive and pro social decision making and activities as some of the keys to success.

 KDOC Secretary Joe Norwood stated that in their first year after release from incarceration, offenders with a mentor recidivate at about a 8.7 percent rate. Those without mentors return to prison within a year more than 20.7 percent of the time.

 Read the Kansas Department for Children and Families news release from the proclamation signing at http://www.dcf.ks.gov/Newsroom/Pages/Governor-Recognizes-Mentoring-Programs-for-Helping-Kansans-in-Need.aspx.

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