This Just In

RISE tries to break the cycle of crime

Legacy

By MIRIAM ALTMAN | April 18, 2007

About 3500 Rhode Island children have at least one parent who is incarcerated, according to Jennifer Shimkus, executive director of Rhode Islanders Sponsoring Education (RISE). This should be of no small concern to the state since, as a 2000 US Senate report documented, 70 percent of children with at least one parent who has been incarcerated will become involved in the criminal justice system.

To combat such outcomes, Dr. Tim Flanigan, Dr. Kevin Vigilante, and Kristen Haffenreffer Moran founded RISE (www.riseonline.org), a Providence-based nonprofit with the mission to “provide educational opportunities and mentoring to children of incarcerated parents in order to break the intergenerational cycle of poverty, violence and addiction that so often threatens them”

When the program was established 10 years ago, it served just 22 students; it now serves 150 Rhode Island children. Meanwhile, from 1976 to 2005, Rhode Island’s incarcerated population has increased at an average rate of 15.2 percent annually; about 3360 people were incarcerated at the Adult Correctional Institutions in 2005, according to the state.

Moran, who was RISE’s executive director until February and still serves as a consultant, says one of the program’s greatest challenges is finding a constant stream of financial sponsors, including individuals and businesses. One hundred students in the program are receiving scholarships, and 20 others are on a waiting list.

RISE also serves 75 students, 35 of whom are part of the 100 who receive financial scholarships, by pairing them with a volunteer mentor. Mentors commit at least six hours per month while participating in a variety of recreational activities. Moran says RISE aims to increase its mentoring program by recruiting at least 15 new mentors by June 30, to a total of 100.

Children served by RISE are referred by their own parents. “Our student's parents are very enthusiastic — they’re the ones who refer their children,” she says. “They recognize that a good education could help to immunize their children from making the same mistakes they did.”

RISE has partnered with more than 30 parochial and preparatory schools across the state that will nurture “at-risk” students. These schools are generally small in size, have high expectations, and promote a safe environment and effective curriculum. Most of the program’s students are in primary school, and about 35 students will be in high school next year.

Young people with incarcerated parents often face extreme obstacles, such as parental alcohol or drug abuse, financial instability, and parental separation which can lead to behavioral problems, ranging from drug and alcohol abuse to difficulties in school.

RISE’s ultimate goal is to see its students graduate from high school and move on to positive futures. Five recent graduates of the program have graduated from private high schools; three graduates went on to college, one joined the US Navy, and one is employed in the restaurant industry full-time. As Shimkus says, “The program provides a critical need in the community . . . [Going forward], we want to bring this issue . . . to the forefront.”