HALETHORPE, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Baltimore area nonprofit Vehicles for Change, Inc. (VFC) today announced that they will host their second annual Prison Reentry Town Hall Meeting at Full Circle Service Center. The town hall will take place at their Halethorpe location on Wednesday, April 26th from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm. A Resource Fair for returning citizens and their families will precede the Meeting from 5:00 pm to 6:30 pm. WBAL-TV’s investigative reporter Jayne Miller will moderate the discussion panels made up of reentry experts and representatives from the Maryland Transit Administration, Maryland Correctional Enterprises, Crossroads Freedom Center, Jane Addams Resource Corporation, and other organizations.
“It is important to have conversations around returning citizens and their need to become productive in society. The town hall puts all of the resources in one room which is not just beneficial to returning citizens but also to other programs in order to cross provide wrap-around services,” said the Director of Vehicles for Change’s Automotive Reentry Internship Program, Nikki Zaahir.
The town hall topics will emphasize the challenges that ex-offenders experience when re-entering society while searching for ways to address those challenges through various channels. After each panel discussion the floor will be open to the audience for questions and answers. The resource fair has been added this year and will include representatives from reentry assistance organizations that will provide literature and information for ex-offenders and their family members.
Zaahir explains, “What makes Vehicles for Change’s Center for Automotive Careers special is that they provide paid training. This is important because returning citizens come home to massive bills and responsibilities that are not negated by their prison time.”
Vehicles for Change has been providing a second chance to returning citizens since September 2013, through its Center for Automotive Careers. The program offers an automotive internship that provides interns with Automotive Service Excellence (ASE) classroom training as well as hands-on training under the supervision of a master mechanic. The interns work on fixing up donated cars that are awarded to low-income families at minimal cost. Interns also work on cars for the public through Vehicles for Change’s Automotive Garage, Full Circle Service Center.
Please direct all media inquiries and requests to Monica Johnson at 410-242-9674 or by email at mjohnson@vehiclesforchange.org.
