DISMAS HOUSE OF MASSACHUSETTS INC
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Mission Statement
The mission of Dismas is the reconciliation of former offenders and society through the creation of supportive communities.
About This Cause
Dismas House of Massachusetts, Inc. is a charitable 501(c)(3) agency devoted to its mission of reconciling former prisoners to society and society to former prisoners, through the development of a supportive community. To fulfill this mission, Dismas House manages a network of housing and social services that provide an integrated and unique approach to ensure the success of homeless former prisoners in the Greater Worcester, MA area, a community comprising the second largest cohort of low-income clients in New England. The Dismas model provides a safety net and social network for former prisoners through a combination of targeted resources developed by staff, oversight and strategic planning by a diverse Board of Directors representative of the Greater Worcester community, and the active daily involvement of volunteers and mentors from the wider community. Through these efforts, Dismas has emerged as a leader in developing a comprehensive response to the dual crises of homelessness and flawed prisoner reentry programs within the Greater Worcester community and was recently awarded the prestigious Edward M. Kennedy Community Health award for its work. Our program includes three distinct housing sites: Dismas House on Richards Street in Worcester, MA, the Dismas Family Farm in Oakham, MA, and the Father Brooks House on Arthur Street in Worcester, MA. Additionally, Dismas House sponsors various community-wide initiatives such as the free civil legal aid program BAR None, the Worcester Green Low-Income Housing Coalition (WGLIHC), and the Worcester Homeless Action Committee (WHAC). The first Dismas House in Massachusetts, opened on Richards Street in 1988 in the heart of Worcester’s disadvantaged Main South neighborhood, followed the ideology set forth by Dismas’ original founders in 1974: that prisoner reconciliation with society is an important mission. Since that time, Dismas House of Massachusetts has expanded the size and scope of its recovery and reintegration model with the opening of the Father John Brooks House in 2007 and the Dismas Family Farm in 2009. Named for longtime Dismas supporter and President Emeritus of the College of the Holy Cross, the Father John Brooks House serves as a long-term housing option for graduates of Dismas and their families. Meanwhile, the Dismas Family Farm is a 35-acre residential farm in Oakham, MA geared towards the successful initial reentry of former prisoners and the development of vocational skills for those residents. In 2012, Dismas House launched the BAR None Program, a legal advocacy program designed to help individuals with criminal records address civil legal matters that present barriers to successful community reintegration. Thus, over the past 27 years, Dismas House of Massachusetts has grown from a single transitional home to a comprehensive three-site reintegration model providing wraparound social services to those most in need. The Dismas model begins with the interviewing of prospective program candidates in prisons and shelters as well as on the streets. Upon acceptance, new residents agree to make a three month commitment to Dismas (average length of stay is six to nine months and there are no limits to length of stay), to live drug and violence-free, and to participate in the consensus decision-making of the community. While participating in the Dismas program, residents are part of a family-style atmosphere and benefit from a network of resources specifically geared to assist them with civil legal problems, health benefits acquisition, SSI/SSDI benefits acquisition, HIV/AIDS awareness and referrals, credit repair, job and college searches, and housing referrals and placement. Staff members provide individualized case management assistance for each resident and are on hand 24 hours per day to ensure the safety and security of our homes. Our full-time attorney affords residents with a wide breadth of legal services ranging from record sealing and benefits acquisition to full case representation. Our Farm Steward guides farm residents as they develop vocational skills, build the self-discipline needed to succeed in the workforce, and produce thousands of pounds of nutritious local produce annually. Additionally, Dismas employs two full-time residential Program Fellows, typically recent college graduates, who live and work in our homes alongside residents. The Dismas House Fellowship program has emerged as a key component of our reintegration model as Fellows provide residents with transportation to area AA/NA meetings and physical/mental health services, academic tutoring, and education advice. While Dismas House continually expands its continuum of traditional social services to assist with employment, substance abuse recovery and housing, we also target the more subtle issues of community-building, family reunification, and social responsibility to counter the isolating and disempowering effects of incarceration. Dismas residents share in nightly dinners with volunteers, staff, and former residents. Residents participate in weekly house meetings, make household decisions and regularly attend NA/AA meetings. As part of their recovery, farm residents are also expected to perform several hours of field work each day under the supervision of our Farm Steward and give back to the local community through volunteerism and other community services. Toward this end, farm residents coordinate a 30 vendor farmers’ market and sell farm shares through our Community Share Agriculture (CSA) program. Dismas House recently piloted a new food justice initiative to bring farm shares – representing thousands of pounds of fresh produce – to low-income families receiving in-home assistance from Pernet Family Health Service. Pernet case managers have incorporated our local fresh food as an additional tool for stabilizing at-risk families in one of central Massachusetts’ most impoverished census tracts and food deserts. This new program effectively forms a chain of mutual benefit whereby the recovery and education of Dismas residents serves to nourish and sustain other at-risk community members. The Dismas model and mission have been hailed nationally as best-practices toward solving issues associated with homelessness and prisoner re-entry. In fact, recidivism rates for graduates of the Dismas House program are approximately 50% of the Massachusetts state average. In response to such successes, the esteemed Eisenhower Foundation, the successor to the Lyndon Johnson Riot Commission, named Dismas House one of the top seven prisoner reentry efforts nationwide in its First Edition January 2007 Report and the Pioneer Institute awarded Dismas House special recognition in its 2015 Better Government Competition. In November 2015, Dismas became the first recipient of the Edward M. Kennedy Community Health Center’s Community Health Award in recognition of the significant collaborative impact of our BAR None program. Dismas House continues to work closely with an array of housing, government, philanthropic and academic evaluation partners such as Brandeis University and the Ted Kennedy Healthcare Center to assess our programs and forge partnerships. Our mission is ultimately to reconcile former prisoners with society by addressing the complex of health, housing, substance abuse, and economic needs facing this gap population.