In January 2003, a delegation of Fairfax County officials flew to San Francisco to observe what is considered to be one of the nation's most effective programs to fight recidivism among criminals.
The Delancey Street Project, founded in 1971, is a community of former offenders who have renounced their lives of crime and devoted themselves to self-discipline, mutual support and learning job and life skills.
Headquartered in a 325,000-square-foot complex on the San Francisco Bay waterfront, the Delancey Street Project serves as home to former drug addicts, alcoholics, prostitutes, car thieves, homeless people and others who have hit bottom and are ready to move in a more positive direction.
It also features a restaurant, auto repair shop and other businesses — all run by former convicts. The work and managerial experience gives former offenders a viable alternative to committing crimes.
"I was a total skeptic when I went out to see the project for myself," said Carla Taylor, executive director of the Fairfax nonprofit organization Opportunities, Alternatives and Resources. "But I left there truly sold. This is a group of individuals who are committing their lives to hard work and their community."
Taylor's organization, which runs educational and diversion programs in the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center, will begin work to establish a local replication of the Delancey Street Project in Fairfax County.
AT THE REQUEST of Fairfax County Supervisor Cathy Hudgins (D-Hunter Mill), a $500,000 grant for the program was included in the 2006 federal budget.
Hudgins, who also attended the San Francisco trip, said she was convinced a local version of Delancey Street could give former offenders an alternative to turning back to their criminal pasts.
"This program establishes the kind of capacity they need to re-enter society," Hudgins said. "It's an opportunity to do some true work that reduces recidivism."
The Fairfax County version of the project would likely draw former offenders from Virginia's state prison system, where prisoners have longer sentences than in the county jail.
Each year, between 3,000 and 4,000 former offenders are released from state prisons to Fairfax County. And with a national recidivism rate of 60 percent, more than a few ex-prisoners are committing more crimes.
By empowering participants to live together harmoniously and to run their own businesses, the project is intended to show former criminals another way to support themselves and their families.
"We're talking about skills they can use to earn a decent living on the outside," said Christopher Fay, a consultant with the Eisenhower Foundation which will help establish the project in Fairfax County.
Some participants in the program would be chosen by their fellow former offenders, after having shown a willingness to better themselves. Other participants would be assigned to the project by a judge, in lieu of a prison sentence. Still others might join after having been just released from prison or those who decide to join on their own volition.
DETAILS OF THE local version of Delancey Street have yet to be determined, such as how many former prisoners would be permitted, where it would be located and whether violent offenders would be allowed.
U.S. Rep. Jim Moran (D-8th), who procured the seed money, said he would prefer the project to focus on homeless men and women and non-violent offenders, such as drug addicts.
"I don't want to micro-manage this, but I think it would probably be best for non-violent offenders," Moran said. "A lot of these people just sink into this well of hopelessness once they're incarcerated, even if it's only for a few years. This program is akin to throwing these convicts a lifeline."
At the San Francisco program, repeat violent sexual offenders and people with mental illnesses are barred.
Already, the program has encountered resistance from some members of Fairfax County's criminal justice community. Commonwealth's Attorney Robert F. Horan has said it is naive to believe a community of former criminals is good for rehabilitation purposes or for Fairfax County residents as a whole, according to notes from meetings where a local Delancey Street Project was debated.
Robert Freeman, a Fairfax resident and member of the Criminal Justice Advisory Board, said no neighborhood in Fairfax County is going to want a community of current and former criminals located nearby.
"Just wait until violent offenders are in the Hunter Mill district," Freeman said.
PROGRAMS inspired by the Delancey Street Project have been started across the country for the past two years.
One such project is run by the Virginia Department of Corrections in Harrisonburg, and is called "Gemeinschaft," the German word for "community." It has also spawned projects in Los Angeles, Greensboro, N.C., an Indian reservation in New Mexico and in Hawaii.
"We have faith that this thing is replicable," said Fay, whose organization funded the San Francisco trip and helped convince Hudgins to back the project for Fairfax County.
Hudgins said she thinks it would be a good fit for the county and dismissed the early concerns of critics, saying they might not have a full understanding of the project's details and its potential.
"Hopefully, the seed money will give us a chance to start small and show the community what we can do," Hudgins said. "Hopefully, we can help the clients to become stable, responsible members of society."