Thresholds in Delaware County 2015 Annual Report · Thresholds in Delaware County 2015 Annual Report . ... Thresholds in Delaware County 2015 Annual Report . ... He related to his

Thresholds in Delaware County 2015 Annual Report

Awards for Outstanding Service to Thresholds in 2015

2015 Thresholds Volunteer of the Year

Fran Battista

Volunteer of the Year for George W. Hill

Thomas Kane

Volunteer of the Year for SCI-Chester

Patricia Bakey & Mary Dwyer

Fran Cook New Volunteer Award

Aremenious Alston

Terrie McKay Award

Joanne Matteucci

Thresholds Board of Directors

2014-2015

OFFICERS

President—Robert Rieck

Vice President—Jerry Nowell

Secretary—Doug Williamson

Treasurer—Bill Murphy

MEMBERS AT LARGE

Maggie Arbuckle

Joanne Matteucci

STAFF

Maggie Arbuckle, Juvenile Detention Center

Fran Battista, G.W. Hill Correctional Facility

Elek Fenyes, G.W. Hill Correctional Facility

Tina Stanton, SCI Chester

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2016 Slate of Nominees for the Board of Directors

Sharon Black

Michal Curry, Secretary

Robyn Dooley

Joan Josephs

Joanne Matteucci, President

John McAndrews

Pauline Michand

Robin Thomas

Bill Vernon


Armenious Alston Clint Amos Maggie Arbuckle Patricia Bakey Mary Lu Bartorillo Laurie Bass Fran Battista Leif Beck Georgia Beli Heather Berardinelli Sharon Black Byrin Bratcher Nadine Bratcher Heidi Carp Melissa Ciesielski Laura Ciporin Carol Colombo Jim Coyne Michal Curry Andrea Damm Michael DeVacchio Sally DiBello Dave Dietrich Robyn Dooley Mary Dwyer Diane Eichler Jesse Faust Elek Fenyes Laura Fetterman Melissa Finnegan Zexi Geng Bonnie George Charlotte Giblin Mary Ellen Goldfarb Angel Graham Carol Henn Sandi Hollie Dennis Horton Leet Horton Roy Isen Inez Jones

Thomas Jones Tom Kane Joan Josephs Barbara Kosierowski Brenda Kucirka Melissa Maffettone Joanne Matteucci John McAndrews Paulina Michaud Richard Miller Bill Murphy Jerry Nowell Leslie Peters Joanne Prazenica Mike Prentice Debbie Quagliarello Gale Rankowski Gemma Rapone Connie Richardson Bob Rieck Heidi Scheer William Ryan Frances Schultz Arthur Strawbridge Christina (Tina) Stanton Michael Stapf Anna Marie Stewart Fred Struckmeyer Robin Thomas Laurie Truluck Mark Ulau Bill Vernon Doug Williamson

Thresholds in Delaware County Volunteers

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President’s Report By Bob Rieck

“We all make choices, but in the end our choices make us.”

It has been a pleasure to work with the Thresholds Board of Directors dur-ing the past three years as President. We have maintained our primary teaching focus throughout the strong regular VTW classes for new volunteers, improving communications with our volunteers, and providing outreach volunteers for newer programs in the community. The key to provid-ing a successful program should be directed to the coordinators of our programs in the facilities that we teach. Our dedicated Board of Directors serve faithfully and diligently as well. Finally, without our dedicated volun-teers none of us could do what we have done over the past 40 years or what we shall do in the future. Thank you all for your dedication and sense of “mission” which is apparent in all of our programs and training programs. Thresholds in Delaware County remains strong and vital because of you!

Regards, Bob Rieck

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THRESHOLDS BOARD PRESIDENTS

Bill Shearer 1990-1993

Betty Green 1993-1994

Jerry Nowell 1994-1996

Anne Fonshell 1996-1998

Terrie McKay 1998-2000

Tom Hughes 2000-2002

Alan Stapelton 2002-2004

Dave Dietrich 2004-2006

Bill Murphy 2006-2008

Fran Cook 2008-2010

Mary Ellen Goldfarb 2010-2013

Bob Rieck 2013-2016

Joanne Matteucci 2016-present

PROGRAM MANAGERS – DIRECTORS

Nancy Hersig 1975-1978

Pat Lasseter 1978-1980

Jacqui McDonald 1980-1992

Fran Cook 1992-1998

Chris Jacobson 1998-2000

Michelle Rief 2000-2003

Liza Carroll 2003-2005

Adrienne Clark 2005

Jackie Struthers 2005-2006

Fran Cook 2006-2007

Connie Roggio 2007-2011

Jerry Duffy 2011-2013

Elek Fenyes 2013-present


40 Year History of

Thresholds in Delaware County

By Jerry Nowell

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Thresholds in Delaware County was 40 years old in 2015. In 1974 Pat Lasseter and Nancy Hersig, members of the local Unitarian Church began carpooling family members from Chester to visit inmates in Delaware County Prison. Shortly thereafter they attended a meeting in Media to hear Milton Burglass describe the Thresholds Program. Inspired, they attended a Training Weekend in Bucks County, formed a board of directors, and began teaching at the Delaware County Prison in February 1975.

In July our fledgling organization received a grant of $16,000 from the Governors Justice Committee, providing the funds to hire a part-time Director. Nancy assumed the job, later to be followed by Pat, and finally, in 1980, by Jacqui McDonald. Jacqui would remain in the job for twelve years, and become the face of Thresholds in Delaware County. She organized an annual picnic, which became a major social event.

Joining Thresholds in 1982 were Mable McMaster and Betty Green. Both played a major role in the growth of our organization. Mabel, in her 80’s, was beloved by her “boys”, and livened up our Training Weekends. Betty was an organizer. She was twice President of the Board and later would re-write the Teachers Manual.

In 1983 Anne Fonshell added Thresholds to her long list of civic organizations. (She was President of the Delaware County Women’s Club and the Rose Tree Media School Board, among others.) She became our Board President in 1984. At the same time Dick Bergeson joined Chester County Thresholds. He taught in the prison there for 30 years, and was President of their Board from 2003-2011. He also served as our Treasurer for five years developing an Excel spread sheet we use to this day.

During the mid-eighties there was a major disagreement among Board members. Some, like Jacqui, Betty and Carol Jones, wanted to up-date the curriculum and improve and localize the Volunteer Training Weekends. Those resisting change temporarily won, causing Carol to leave and start her own program in Montgomery County.

In 1989 Fran Cook and Jerry Nowell joined Thresholds. Fran was an outstanding teacher, the only person to be both President of the Board and Executive Director. She became President of Mid-Atlantic Thresholds, and taught Training Workshops all over the country. Jerry served as Board President, was Coordinator of Thresholds at the Juvenile Detention Center, and headed a curriculum committee which rewrote our teaching materials.

In 1991 we joined Delaware Thresholds to teach a Training Weekend in the Smyrna Prison so that lifers could become teachers. We also took part in the United Way walk-a-thon wearing tee-shirts which read, “I go to jail for Thresholds”.

In December of 1992 our organization faced a major crisis – we were out of money! Bill Shearer, our President, realized we had to eliminate the Director’s position and Jacqui left Thresholds after 12 years of dedicated service. Betty become President of the Board in January, noti-fied our members of the situation and proposed a solution. Volunteers took over all duties including running the office and overseeing the teachers. Within three months we received United Way funds and grants totaling $18,000. This allowed the hiring of Fran as part-time Director. She proved an excellent choice and her position was made full-time in June. Thanks to the efforts of many volunteers we made it through a difficult time and went on to have a very successful year.

Terrie McKay joined Thresholds in 1993. She became an outstanding Macro teacher, reorganized the schedule and helped write a Macro Handbook. She later became President of the Board.

In 1994 Betty Green was named outstanding volunteer of the year by the United Way and Alan Stapleton joined Thresholds. In 1995 the Ethel Sergent Clark Fund gave us $10,000. In August a joint meeting with Chester County Thresholds was held to begin revising the Work-book. The following year several of our members attended a Workshop in Massachusetts led by Penny Rogers, a contemporary of Mickey Burglass.

Chrissy Annechino started teaching Macro classes at SCI-Chester shortly after graduating college. She later was Secretary of the Board, taught at the Juvenile Detention Center and helped revise the Guide for Young People.

In 1996 interns from Widener University volunteered with Thresholds as part of their Criminal Justice class. The new building was completed, and named the George W. Hill Correctional Facility, and Bill Murphy joined Thresholds.

In 1997 Chris Jacobson succeeded Fran as our Executive Director. The next year a retreat was held at which our Mission Statement was

revised, five on-going committees were formed, and exit interviews were begun. Maggie Arbuckle came aboard that year and in 1999 be-

came a Macro Teacher and Secretary of the Board.


40 Year History of


(continued)

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In 1998 Grace Han was instrumental in preparing us to teach at the new State Prison in Chester. Chris worked with Mary Leftridge Byrd, the Superintendent, to determine how Thresholds would be introduced and taught at SCI-Chester. A meeting was held to introduce Thresh-olds, and more than 200 inmates signed up. The first class began in early 1999 and Chris was named Teacher of the Year. Ms. Byrd spoke at our Annual Dinner about her mission to rehabilitate the men at SCI-Chester, and the new programs she planned. Soon after Michelle Rief was hired as Coordinator at the Prison. Alan, Dave, Fran, Bill, Jerry, Bob Rieck, Adele Malloy, Mary Lu Bartorillo, Key Murray and Tina Stanton all distinguished themselves as teachers there. The first six all became Presidents of the Board!

The year 2000 marked our 25th anniversary. Mickey Burglass, himself, spoke at length at our Annual Dinner. An historic edition of the Newsletter was printed. That year Michelle became our Executive Director, and Mable, now 88, was named Thresholds volunteer of the century. We also received an award from the Pennsylvania State Senate and the Workbook was revised and renamed the Guide.

On March 14, 2001 Terrie McKay sadly died of cancer. Tom Hughes and Bill Murphy wrote glowing tributes to her in the Newsletter.

Vermell Mitchell, a Pastor in Chester, became Coordinator at SCI-Chester. She later arranged to hold a training workshop at a church in

Chester. Also Thresholds went on line that year! Dave Dietrich joined Thresholds and became an outstanding teacher, and was later

elected as President of the Board. A video was produced and named Crossing Thresholds in which Teddy Thorpe talked about “those

clanging doors.” Terry Reed, an inmate himself as a youth, joined Thresholds. He related to his clients in a way that no one else could. He

taught at the Juvenile Detention Center and at the Hill for many years.

Dave Rogers, Program Director invited us to teach Thresholds at the Juvenile Detention Center. Our Board President, Tom Hughes, played a major role in developing the curriculum and schedule. Thirty-two boys showed up for the first class resulting in numerous problems. Thereafter, we taught on weekends with the number of clients matching the teachers. The following year, with the help of volunteers from the State of Delaware, the Guide for Young People was written.

In March of 2002, Mable McMaster died at the age of 92. A recidivism study, completed in 2003 by Ray Westphal, showed that Thresholds graduates were 33% less likely to return to prison compared to the general population. Mike Prentice became a major contributor to our Volunteer Training Workshops and began teaching Macro classes at the Hill and continues doing so to this day. In June, four evening train-ing sessions were held for new teachers at SCI-Chester. The following year Ron Keib, the Coordinator at SCI-Chester, arranged a Training Workshop for five lifers. All graduated, among them Thomas “Tee” Jones and Eddie McCleary. Both taught at the prison for many years.

In 2004, Betty Green had our Guide and Teachers’ Manual copyrighted. Terry Reed, an inmate himself as a youth, joined Thresholds. He related to his clients in a way that no one else could. He taught at the Juvenile Detention Center and at the Hill for many years. The following year, we trained 61 teachers in New York. All were members of the Fortune Society headed by Jo Ann Page, a contemporary of Mickey Burglass. Tina Stanton became Coordinator at SCI-Chester that year.

During 2006, Bill Murphy became our President. He taught at all three facilities and is doing an outstanding job as our Treasurer to this day. He also teaches Macro classes at SCI-Chester with Mary Lu Bartorillo.

Between 2004 and 2009 our members traveled to Connecticut, Virginia, Indiana, New York City, New Jersey and Florida introducing Thresholds. Murthy Cheruvu was instrumental in setting up many of these sessions. He now teaches Thresholds in Poughkeepsie, NY. Jim Powers invited us to train teachers in Atlanta on several occasions. They began teaching in two prisons there. Bob Rieck, Fran, Con-nie Roggio and Jerry taught at most of these sessions.

In 2007 Connie became Program Manager at the Hill, and Pat Lasseter, a founder, spoke at our Annual Dinner. Our Volunteer Training Weekend that year was held with Mothers In Charge, women who had lost a family member due to street violence. We also tried holding a pre-training session to introduce prospective volunteers to Thresholds in an informal setting. A meeting was held with the lifers at SCI-Chester to get their feedback.

In 2009 re-entry classes were started at both prisons to help our clients re-adjust to society. A workshop drew 30 people from three Thresh-olds chapters. Betty Green wrote the Policies and Procedures handbook, and Terry Reed received the Terrie McKay award as our most outstanding volunteer.

In 2010 we updated all our publications and our website. We also wrote a Guide for those not in prison, to be used in shelters and soup kitchens. The following year, Jerry Duffy was hired as our Program Director, and a Thresholds brochure was written to recruit new volunteers.

An outstanding leader and our Board President, Mary Ellen Goldfarb led a Strategic Action Training Workshop in 2011. She also became a

major fundraiser. Elek Fenyes joined Thresholds that year and soon began teaching Macro classes. He became Coordinator at the Hill two

years later. We lost United Way funding due to the merger of the Chester and Philadelphia branches. They had been a major contributor


40 Year History of


(continued)

over the years. The following year, Bob Rieck was elected President of the Board and completed a recidivism study at the Juve-nile Detention Center.

In February 2013 a new format for the Volunteer Training Workshop was developed by Maggie Arbuckle. It featured one-on-one breakout sessions after the introduction of each step. Individual contributors gave $11,461.00, the most ever. Fran Cook and Jerry Nowell were chosen as Volunteers of the Year by the administration at SCI-Chester.

Joanne Matteucci became a volunteer in 2013 and immediately taught two clients, then Macro classes, then at a Volunteer Train-ing Workshop, and in 2015 she became a member of the Board.

Maggie became coordinator at the Juvenile Detention Center in 2014. Later that year a fire there halted teaching. We lost Fran Cook on March 16, 2015 after a protracted illness. Her contributions to Thresholds were immense and she is greatly missed. A client at the Hill elected to postpone his release in order to graduate from Thresholds! Program Manager, Elek Fenyes helped initiate the Pathway Forward program at the Hill to allow Thresholds graduates to enter Delaware County Community College. Mary Ellen Goldfarb and Chrissy Annachino taught Thresholds at Academy Park High School.

In 2015 our By-laws were amended so that Bob Rieck could serve a third term as President of the Board. Fran Battista was hired as Assistant Coordinator for women at the Hill. Lifers were again trained as teachers at SCI-Chester and three became major contributors to the Macro classes. We were presented an award by the Media Fellowship House, and began teaching teenagers in a program called Be Proud. Its purpose is to help truants return to school.

Our next 40 years started out on a positive note. In January of 2016, with the help of Elek, Fran Battista made it happen! Maggie and Jerry taught the first Macro classes for women at the Hill in 15 years. In March we were able to teach again at the Juvenile Detention Center after more than a year’s absence. Since 2002, Jerry and Bob have taught 60 weekends, Bill and Mary Lu over 40, Maggie, Chrissy and Doug Williamson more than 20. Doug has also served as Secretary of the Board, sadly he is retiring from Thresholds this year.

That month, Joanne Matteucci was nominated to be President of the Board, the election to be held at our Annual Meeting. At the same time Armenious Alston, a lifer at SCI-Chester, will receive (the newly established) Fran Cook Award for the outstanding new teacher of the year.

The history of Thresholds in Delaware County would be incomplete without acknowledging that members of the Media Unitarian Church (UUCDC) were not only the founders of our organization but have also made major contributions over the years. They include Michelle Rief, Connie Roggio, Elek Fenyes and Fran Battista.

In the forty years since the founding of Thresholds in Delaware County at least 1,000 volunteers have helped our clients make

better decisions and turn their lives around. It would be impossible to mention all of you, so please forgive any omissions.

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I wish to gratefully acknowledge the many hours Maggie Arbuckle spent typing

and retyping the article on the History of Thresholds! This could not have been

told but for her HERCULEAN effort!

Foster Nowell, Jr., Ed. D.

(a.k.a. Jerry)


40th Anniversary Celebration

On December 7, 2015 we celebrated the 40th Anniversary of Thresholds in Delaware County at DiFabio’s

Market & Tap restaurant located in Media, PA. The event was attended by over 40 current and past

volunteers. Our keynote speaker, Deputy Warden of Programs at The George Hill Correctional Facility,

Mario Colucci , praised the Thresholds program for aiding in reducing recidivism as well as helping inmates to

obtain necessary skills to successfully re-enter society. It was great fun to honor our inspiring past while looking

forward to the future!

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Thresholds Recognition Awards 1975-2015

Terrie McKay Award

2002 Gerry Young

2003 Jerry Nowell

2004 Alan Stapleton

2005 Maggie Arbuckle

2006 Fran Cook

2007 Terry Reed

2008 Bill Murphy

2010 Chrissy Annechino

2011 Bob Rieck

2012 Mary Ellen Goldfarb

2014 Mary Lu Bartorillo

2015 Joanne Matteucci

Outstanding Volunteer of the Year

2003 Dick Bergesten &

Ray Westphal

2004 David Gerber

2005 Bill Murphy

2006 Key Murray

2007 PA DOC state award:

Key Murray

2008 Mike Prentice

2009 Ron Burns

2010 Paige Morrison

2011 Mary Lu Stephens

2012 Tina Stanton

2013 Maggie Arbuckle &

Fran Cook

2014 Elek Fenyes

2015 Fran Battista

GWHCF Volunteer of the Year

2003 Connie Roggio & Terry Reed


2005 David Gerber

2006 Hank Mack

2007 Rich Meroney

2008 Paige Morrison

2009 Gale Rankowski

2010 Carol Columbo

2011 Carolyn Snape

2012 Elek Fenyes

2013 Anthony Scott

2014 Francis Battista

2015 Thomas Kane

SCI-Chester Volunteer of the Year

2003 Key Murray

2004 Tina Stanton

2005 Shelly Solow

2006 Alan Kauffman

2007 Richard Miller

2008 Adele Malloy

2009 Bob Rieck & Stacey O’Leary

2010 Mike DelVacchio

2011 Jerry Nowell

2012 Marion Melchiorre &

Gudren Weinberg

2013 Mark Ashe

2014 Laurie Truluck

2015 Pat Bakey & Mary Dwyer

Juvenile Detention Center

Volunteer of the Year

2003 Bob Rieck


2005 Terry Reed

2006 Bill Murphy

2007 Mary Lu Stephens



2010 Doug Williamson

2011 Stacey O’Leary

2012 Gale Rankowski

2013 Christina Sladek

2014 Sandi Hollie

New Volunteer of the Year (named the

Fran Cook Award in 2015)

2006 Pat Cahill

2007 Dave Wolowitz

2008 Sheryl Shapiro

2009 Ed McAndrews

2010 Stephen Tumolo, SCI-Chester

Anthony Scott, GWHCF

Gina Ruggieri, JDC

2011 Diane Eichler

2012 Linda Hylinski

2013 Lori Koncos

2014 Joanne Matteucci

2015 Armenious Alston

Service to Thresholds/Special Recognition Awards

2006 Joe Arbuckle

Michell Rief Carpio

2007 Doug Whyte

Harry Toland

Sister Barbara Agnew

2008 Jack Booth, SCI Chester Psychologist/

Thresholds Point Person

Loretta Burton, GWHCF

Maureen Lipski, GWHCF

Bunny McNamee, Administrative assistance

2009 Dick Bergesen

James Phillips, JDC Supervisor

2010 Emmanual Asante, GWHCF

2011 James Swigget, Program Manager, JDC

2012 Fran Cook

Dave Byrne, GWHCF

Mark Murray, Director JDC

Sheila Burke

2014 Fran Cook

Treasurer’s Report 2015

By Bill Murphy


We are happy to report that from an overall financial standpoint, Thresholds was very successful in 2015. Our receipts exceeded our expenditures by over $13,000! This may well be a record and is the result of diligent stewardship in relation to our Income and our Expenses. Income was more than $5,000 over our budgeted anticipated. Credit must be given where due and the surplus was primarily the result of Mary Ellen Goldfarb’s efforts in pursuing grants, continuing support received from three churches, and once again a very generous response to the Annual Appeal Letter from individual volunteers and loyal supporters of our program. On the expense side we continued our belt tightening approach and were very prudent with our spending. Details of our Receipts and an Income statement are included in this report. A capsule look at our financial activity for 2015 follows: Revenue Foundations $ 25,000 Churches $ 4,130 Corporations $ 2,030 Individuals $ 8,786 United Way—Donor Designated $ 437 Interest $ 81 Other $ 2,863 _______ Total Revenue $ 43,327 Expenses Salaries $ 22,648 Administration $ 2,428 Volunteer Trainings , Mtgs, Etc $ 1,424 Accounting, Insurance $ 991 Other $ 2,482 _______ Total Expenses $ 29,973 _______ Net Surplus $ 13,354 Assets as of 12/31/2015 Capital One $ 10,848 Bryn Mawr Trust $ 48,837 _______ Total $ 59,685

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Thresholds in Delaware County 2015 Annual Report George W Hill Correctional Facility

By Elek Fenyes

The Men’s Program The G.W. Hill Correctional Facility is a county prison and it has a highly transient population. While we try to ensure that an inmate has sufficient time left to complete our two-month long program, it is sometimes impractical because a large percentage of the population have indeterminate sentences. Often they themselves don’t know when they will be released. Also, another percentage are being held here only while the legal process is undergoing, and once a final sentence is imposed, they are transferred to a state prison. Because of this, our attrition rate may appear high at first glance. Even though some of our clients are discharged or transferred before they are able to complete our program, very few actually quit. We did better than average this year, out of 119 enrolled male inmates, 75 graduated. The Women’s Program Unfortunately, the female inmate population at the Hill has been growing. In 2015 it was hovering around 280 inmates. Working with female inmates presents a greater challenge than with the male population. Their movement through the facility is restricted and most of the programs offered to them must take place in their housing units. Consequently, gaining access to the one classroom in the women’s unit is difficult. To better serve women, Thresholds has hired a part time coordinator, Fran Battista whose time is solely dedicated to working with the female population. The prison administration has also graciously allowed us some time just for us in the classroom in the women’s unit. Currently it is only a couple of hours on a Friday but we are very grateful. With these couple of hours, Fran has been able to get to know the women interested in Thresholds and matches them with suitable volunteers. More specifically, she has been able to establish lines of communication between the volunteers and the inmate clients to improve the volunteer experience. In 2015, 22 female inmates completed the Thresholds Program and we are confident that this number will be increasing. Also in 2015, we are extremely thrilled to have received approval to establish the MACRO classroom instruction program for women. Our timeslot is Saturdays between 12:30 to 2:30 PM. The program is not scheduled to actually start until 2016. More about that in next year’s report. The Volunteer Corps During 2015, we had 48 active volunteers. These volunteers spent a total of 1528 hours in 2015 teaching the Thresholds decision-making process to individual inmate clients. The biggest challenge our volunteers encounter is the time volunteers have to wait in the Visitation Room for inmate clients to appear. With the assistance of the prison administration, we have been able to significantly reduce waiting time. It is now less than 15 minutes on the average and, quite often, it is the inmate client who is waiting for our volunteers to arrive.

Pathway Forward Pathway Forward is a joint program with Delaware County Community College (DCCC). Threshold graduates are visited by college officials and are enrolled while the inmates are still in prison. Recently, the prison officials also created special Internet access so that our graduates in the Pathway Forward program are able to apply for Federal Student Aid while still incarcerated. Upon release, inmates are enrolled in a special “returning citizen” program that handles integration into college life. The program has had a very positive impact on Thresholds. Many inmates are interested in college and most of them sign up. There are approximately 82 current and former G.W. Hill inmates in the program.

George W. Hill 2015 Numbers Male inmates enrolled 119 Male inmates graduated 75 Female inmates graduated 22 Total active volunteers 48 Enrolled in Pathway Forward program 82 Total volunteer time hours with inmates 1,528

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SCI CHESTER

By Tina Stanton

Life is the sum of all your choices

The men at SCI-Chester continue to ask for and very much appreciate the opportunity to par-ticipate in the Thresholds program. The staff at SCI-Chester are generally appreciative and helpful as well. The SCI Thresholds volunteers continue to be enthusiastic and inspired by the clients we teach in Chester, even as the DOC adds new requirements making it a bit more difficult for us to enter the institution but which we understand are there to keep everyone safe. In 2015 there were close to 100 new requests for our program, 17 Thresholds volunteers from the community and 5 inside teachers taught Thresholds at SCI, and 44 men completed the program. We always hope to reach more and are confident that we will do so. We have some newer teachers who have been wonderful, a few from the latest VTW who are finally all cleared to teach, and we have quite a few volunteers who have been devoted and reliable for many years. In our April 2015 class we had four men who have been serving life sentences graduate as regular Thresholds clients, and then, at their personal request, we had a special training for them to become Thresholds teachers. These four, Armenious, Jesse, Dennis, and Lee, along with Eddie and Tee who have taught Thresholds for years, have been terrific in both Micro sessions and Macro classes, connecting with the others in a special way we outsiders cannot do. Even so, it is having us outside volunteers come in and willingly and joyfully give our time, energy and attention which our clients particularly appreciate. We are still slightly below the 25 volunteers we are allowed at SCI-Chester, as life has taken Thresholds volunteers in other directions, and – good news!—we will be losing two more Thresholds teachers. Two of our inside teachers, Eddie and Armenious will soon be getting out. Ta da! They have both been incarcerated for many years, but both were under 18 years old when they were convicted, and the Supreme Court not long ago ruled that juveniles may not be sentenced to life without parole. The court made the ruling retroactive, to apply to those already in prison, like Eddie and Armenious.

So these fine formerly “Inside” thresholds teachers will have the chance to spread the word

about Thresholds in their free lives in the outside world. And surely we will have new volun-

teers join us, choosing to go into prison once in a while to bring folks there Thresholds skills for

choice and hope and control in their lives—and even bring some loving and caring, though

technically that is not allowed; that is, we may not show it, but surely we all know it!

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Juvenile Detention Center By Maggie Arbuckle & Jerry Nowell

Thresholds was first taught at the Delaware County Juvenile Detention Center in 2002. It was origi-

nally conceived as a seven week decision-making program for all detainees. This arrangement was

not successful. Some of the kids were disinterested and disruptive, while others had to leave the

facility before completing the program. It was then decided to hold two, four hour weekend sessions,

alternating one-half hour Micro and Macro classes. Importantly, the Detention Centers’ Program

Director would select those young people he felt would be cooperative and would benefit most from

the program.

Almost 600 incarcerated youth have graduated from the Thresholds Program since 2002 (53% boys &

47% girls)! We have had a commendable 94% graduation rate (almost equally divided between boys

and girls). There is good reason to believe that our program has made a difference in the lives of the

young people we teach. Feedback from students and staff has been very positive. Director Mark

Murray has said, “I believe the Thresholds Program is a valuable and important resource.” A study of

the young people taking Thresholds in 2012 showed their recidivism rate to be only 23% compared to

the national average of 66% for juveniles.

A fire at the Detention Center in 2014 and administrative changes have greatly reduced the number of kids at the Juvenile Detention Center. In 2015 Thresholds has only been able to hold two weekend classes for 11 students. The disinterest of the five girls we taught in March once again illustrated to us why the kids need to be selected from those wanting to take the program. Both the JDC and Thresh-olds wants to continue teaching Juveniles, so we continue to reach out monthly to see if the facility has a sufficient number of receptive kids.

Meanwhile – Under the leadership of Joanne Matteucci, we met with the Delaware County Intermedi-

ate Unit to see if they had other at-risk youth who would benefit from Thresholds’ decision-making pro-

gram. The Be Proud Program in Media was identified as a possible match. Be Proud works with high

school drop outs who have a number of behavioral and mental health issues. Students are bused to

and from Be Proud daily where GED and life-sustaining lessons are taught. Under their nurturing

umbrella, Be Proud’s aim is to transfer the students back into regular high-school programs. In De-

cember five Thresholds teachers worked with seven Be Proud students and graduated six. Both Be

Proud and Thresholds agreed it was a good match!

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Gifts from Foundations, Churches & Associations in 2015

Boeing Volunteer Gift Match

Chester Monthly Meeting of Friends The Brook J. Lenfest Foundation

Patricia Kind Foundation St. Christopher's Church, Gladwyne

The Unitarian Universalist Church of Delaware County United Way Donor Designated

Wells Fargo R & A Westphal Foundation

The William M. King Charitable Trust

We wish to sincerely thank each and every individual Contributor for their generous donations as well!

Working together we have made and continue to make

changes in the lives of our students and our community!


2015 In-Kind Contributions

The County of Delaware — Office space CEC — Technology and Supplies

Neumann University — Training facilities

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P.O. Box 114

Thornton, PA 19373 610-459-9384

www.thresholdsdelco.org

Thresholds in Delaware County 2015 Annual Report · Thresholds in Delaware County 2015 Annual Report . ... Thresholds in Delaware County 2015 Annual Report . ... He related to his

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