Governor Proclaims Second Chance Month 2024

SECOND CHANCE MONTH

2024

BY THE GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA

A PROCLAMATION

WHEREAS, approximately 95 percent of all people in prison will eventually complete their sentence, be released from incarceration and return to their communities; and

WHEREAS, formerly incarcerated individuals are faced with many obstacles in locating employment, housing, transportation, and health care; and

WHEREAS, justice-involved youth may encounter similar challenges when leaving a secure custody facility, as well as difficulties reuniting with family and peers, reintegrating into their home community, and enrolling in the local educational system; and

WHEREAS, local leaders and state and federal officials recognize these challenges and continue to develop policies and programs to make it easier for the formerly incarcerated adults and justice-involved youth to lead successful lives; and

WHEREAS, in January 2024, the undersigned issued Executive Order 303, directing a transformational whole-of-government approach to improve reentry, rehabilitation, and prison education services in North Carolina; and

WHEREAS, North Carolina’s State Reentry Council Collaborative (SRCC) is implementing efforts to help the formerly incarcerated with their transition by coordinating reentry planning initiatives and identifying service gaps; and

WHEREAS, investing in Juvenile Crime Prevention Councils, as well as education, vocational programming, and therapeutic treatment services for justice-involved youth, creates fewer victims and safer communities, while saving in societal and justice system costs; and

WHEREAS, providing resources for formerly incarcerated adults and justice-involved youth is a collective effort among local reentry councils, Juvenile Crime Prevention Councils, community and faith-based organizations, and the State; and

WHEREAS, the cumulative efforts of reentry professionals, advocates, and volunteers helps to reduce stigmas and provide the formerly incarcerated and justice-involved youth with increased opportunities and a greater chance of a successful reentry to their communities; and

NOW, THEREFORE, I, ROY COOPER, Governor of the State of North Carolina, do hereby proclaim April, 2024, as “SECOND CHANCE MONTH” in North Carolina, and commend its observance to all citizens.

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Roy Cooper

Governor

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the Great Seal of the State of North Carolina at the Capitol in Raleigh this twenty-seventh day of March in the year of our Lord two thousand and twenty-four and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-eighth.