Mary Loftus: “I tell people all the time: You’re not a felon. You’re not a criminal. You’re a person.”
Richard Borer, the executive overseeing the Goodwill reentry center.
After 22 years in prison and one-and-a-half years in a halfway house, Gilfredo Santiago now works as a community advocate at Goodwill’s Reentry Welcome Center — a city-backed initiative that will provide employment services, basic supplies, and a support system to people returning from incarceration.
On Monday, Goodwill of Southern Connecticut partnered with the city to host a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the reentry center at 61 Amity Rd. The center represents an expansion of Goodwill’s existing services for formerly incarcerated people.
At the moment, New Haveners released from prison are driven not to Goodwill — but to the Grand Avenue headquarters of Project M.O.R.E., a nonprofit that used to be home to the city’s reentry center.
Andrius Banevicius, a spokesperson for the Connecticut Department of Correction, said the department is working to develop a drop-off contract with Goodwill.
The goal, said Mayor Justin Elicker, is for the Goodwill reentry center to become New Haveners’ first stop after leaving prison.
According to Elicker, 900 people return to New Haven from prison every year. In Connecticut, the recidivism rate is 50 percent within three years of release.
Before people return home, Mary Loftus, the program coordinator of Goodwill’s reentry initiative, said staff members would visit people in prison and assess their needs. Inside the center, she has already stocked a metal cabinet with bus passes, personal care products, and other essentials.
Because of the waiting lists at shelters, “housing is hard,” said Loftus. She is working with a local landlord to secure two beds for people recently released from prison.
For employment, Goodwill already runs a five-day course, Good Path, to prepare anyone with a criminal record for interviews and job applications. People who finish the class can then partner with employment specialists to find a job. Hill Alder Angel Hubbard credits the course and Goodwill staff for turning her into a “model citizen.”
During Monday’s press conference on Amity Road, Richard Borer, Jr., the president of Goodwill of Southern New England, said the company often hires formerly incarcerated people — including Santiago.
“No one wanted to give me an opportunity for employment,” Santiago, 42, told the Independent. So he volunteered for a Goodwill coat drive to demonstrate his work ethic.
Borer recalled seeing Santiago diving into a truck to find the right sizes and colors for people at the drive. Borer wanted to hire him on the spot.
Santiago was incarcerated six days after his 18th birthday and released just one-and-a-half years ago. He can still remember every moment of his first day out of prison.
“When I stepped out onto the sidewalk and didn’t have no chains on,” he said, he felt free for the first time since 2002. “I went to the halfway house, where I could actually open a window. I sat there for two or three hours, just taking everything in,” he said.
After working for a little over a year, Santiago saved enough money to rent his own apartment. Now, he’s looking forward to guiding other formerly incarcerated people down the same path.
“I left a lot of good individuals on the inside,” said Santiago. “Being able to help them gain the opportunity that was afforded to me is gratifying.”
Like Santiago, Javon Floyd found stable employment at Goodwill. Floyd, a New Haven native, spent almost seven years incarcerated in a federal penitentiary. On the day of his release, he said, he was driven to a train station in Pennsylvania and told to find his way within 12 hours to a halfway house in Hartford.
In the months following his release, he said, he was hired by four separate companies. Then, his background check would come back, and he would be fired.
He saw a post about Good Path on Facebook “just when I was starting to give up,” he said. After filling out paperwork, he was welcomed into the program and later hired by Goodwill. He now serves as store manager of the Goodwill in Orange, and he oversees a nearby donation center.
“Goodwill gave me an opportunity to take care of my family,” including his 11-year-old daughter, he said. “It was a hand-up, not a handout.”
The job also redoubled Floyd’s efforts to “prove people wrong.”
“Everybody thought I was gonna come home doing the same stuff,” he said. “I just wanted to prove people wrong. And to prove myself right.”
Javon Floyd and Gilfredo Santiago.
A metal cabinet inside the Goodwill classroom is filled with essentials.