People leaving Ramsey County Community Corrections can now receive access to food and personal care items from their probation officer as they work to gain re-entry to society.
The food is part of an effort to head off food insecurity. Statistics show 91 percent of people leaving corrections are food insecure.
“It’s more than just a box, it’s immediate problem solving for a need,” said Carissa Dillon, Food Security Coordinator and planning manager for the county. “It’s helping stabilize them and prevent recidivism.”
The boxes come with a list of food shelves in the area where people can access fresh and perishable foods and other resources to support them on a longer term basis. Dillon said the program is a way to reduce barriers and repeat offenders. A study from the University of Minnesota Robina Institute of Criminal Law and Criminal Justice showed one of the top reasons people don’t meet with their probation officer is lack of basic needs.
The county partnered with the Foundation for Essential Needs (FFEN) to coordinate the satellite food program. FFEN provided expertise and guidance to help Dillon navigate the hunger relief system and identified the most critical partners for the county to engage with. FFEN vetted space and equipment options, helping to ensure the program met food safety compliance requirements and food bank expectations.
“Working with FFEN has been fundamental to this project,” Dillion said. “There’s no way I would have been able to do this on my own, I don’t know enough about food shelf logistics.”
Katie Bull, FFEN’s Director of Programs, identified The Sanneh Foundation as the most appropriate partner to have the expertise and capacity to work with the county. Bull brokered a partnership between the two organizations for food distribution to the Ramsey County sites. Now, probation officers can regularly pick up packed boxes of food and basic supplies at two different locations in the county to give to those they’re meeting with.
When Bull designed the program, she said she focused on scalability when it came to choosing a food distribution partner, establishing pick-up locations and the types of food inside the boxes. Eventually, she said, probation officers will be able to choose from standard food boxes and those tailored with foods that might be important to people from different racial and ethnic groups.
For Dillon, part of the benefit has been increased communication in the county about what it means to be food insecure. She said Shawn Trusten, with community corrections, has been working with probation officers to encourage participation in the program.
The food not only supports those released from corrections but those who may be on release while awaiting trial. Those people, Dillion said, are particularly vulnerable as they often turn to friends and family for help with housing, food and rides. Bringing a box of food into the house a person is staying in can ease some of that tension, Dillion said.
“There’s a lot of ripple effects when someone goes through the system,” she said. “It’s a tiny little thing we can do to help.”
