Northern California Service League -- Holiday Greetings!

Dear Friend of NCSL,

Happy Holidays. My name is Mauricio Vela, and I am the Service League’s new Executive Director.

First off, thank you for your support of NCSL.With your help, we are entering a new era in the life of the Service League and the people it serves. Our clients are fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers and children. It is our mission “…to create safer, healthier communities by helping the incarcerated and the formerly incarcerated become responsible and contributing members of society.” We want to help communities in 2010 by reuniting families, and helping families stay together —in ways that are supportive, productive, safe and loving. (Contributions may be made online through a secure server at Network for Good.)

As a friend of NCSL, you know it was Shirley Melnicoe, the previous Executive Director, who brought the League to where it is today, and our clients, board, staff, and I thank her for that. Shirley led the League for 23 years, guiding it from a staff of two in a one-room office over a bar, to a service provider for 15,000 men, women and their family members a year, with support throughout San Francisco, and a staff of more than 40. We are continuing and build on Shirley’s successes as we enter a new era in the Northern California Service League’s 62-year history! And we want you to come along in these exciting times!

This next year is going to be extraordinary for NCSL. We are a dedicated staff, and know the life our clients lead. Many of us have been there ourselves. We have a committed volunteer board, mature programs, and a solid base of supporters such as yourself. In 2010, we are putting these pieces together to make our programs more available to more people.

We have Children's Waiting Rooms at both the Hall of Justice and the Civil Court where we look after kids in a safe, nurturing environment while parents or guardians are engaged in Court-related business. The waiting rooms are also where we oversee child visits so inmates can maintain family ties. The Waiting Rooms serve 4,000 young people a year.

Our Pre-Release Services work inside the jails to give prisoners the tools for a positive life upon release. We connect inmates with social service and treatment providers, as well as their families, employers and attorneys. We offer drug counseling, anger management, job training, parenting classes, women's groups and art classes. We even provide envelopes and stamps so inmates can stay connected with loved ones. Last year, PRS supported 13,000 clients.

Cameo House provides transitional housing for 11 single mothers recently released from prison, and up to two children aged six and under. Each family has their own living space. Residents participate in individual and group therapy, counseling, and job search. Families remain for about a year, or until they are ready to safely transition to independent living. It has had a success rate of 83% in the last four years, with many successful clients becoming employees of NCSL. Cameo serves around 25 families a year.

Our Awakening New Futures Work Readiness Training and annual Job Placement and Job Fairs provide inmates and ex-offenders with the attitude and the skills they need to find a job and then the opportunity to be placed in well-paid, secure employment that allows them to care for themselves, their families, and hold their head up where ever they go. Our jobs programs serve over 800 clients a year.

Post-Release Services are just half a block from San Francisco’s Hall of Justice and central to our work. People released come to us for a needs assessment, counseling, and basic emergency assistance such as food, clothing, and referrals to shelters or rehab. Non-custodial parents and homeless ex-offenders have special issues and we have the skills to address them. We also are the site of one of only four day reporting centers in the state, where parolees get wrap-around services to keep them on track and help them stay clean, safe, and out of jail. Post-Release Services serve 4,000 clients a year.

These programs are proving over and over to be effective ways for our community to prevent recidivism and keep families together! Some highlights of this year are:

In October, eight women graduated from Cameo House -- —reunited with their children, employed, sober, and in long-term housing, these mothers are role models for the community.

In May, NCSL transformed a pod at the San Bruno San Francisco Jail for men into an educational and program facility to prepare individuals for success. Since opening, it has served over 100 individuals with groups, seminars, case management and referrals, individual counseling, and a focus on active communication with family members and parole and probation officers, all with the goal of forming the new habits that will help them succeed outside for the long-term.

On December 4, the Day Reporting Center will hold its first graduation ceremony for parolees who have successfully completed their treatment, maintaining sobriety, becoming gainfully employed and, most importantly, breaking the cycle of criminal behavior and remaining unincarcerated. The Center serves a minimum of 240 clients per year.

In this past year, the recession and the California budget crisis have brought us reductions in State and Federal funds, while early releases of offenders have stretched our programs to their limits. These economic conditions have the potential to dramatically impact the League’s work, putting us at risk of reductions and sacrificing vital programs and staff. Every day, we are being asked to do more with less.

Our successes are because of your support in the past, and we you to continue to be a part of our success tomorrow! For NCSL to help all the people that need us every day—the mothers, fathers and children whose families are torn apart by bad choices and no chances -- —we need you.

We need your continued support to provide low-income and at-risk individuals the tools they need to reduce recidivism, which in turn causes increased stability in their families and in our neighborhoods.

Your ongoing support is very important to us. But if you can do more, then so can we. When you make your donation, think about what the work we do is worth. Together, we will keep this doorway open for the next 60 years, reducing crime and strengthening our communities as we improve the lives of those we serve. Contributions may be made online through a secure server at Network for Good. We are a 501(c)(3) organization.

¡Sí, Se Puede! Yes, We Can!

Mauricio E. Vela
Executive Director

P.S. Write your tax-deductible check or donate online today. Your support will give SF families the chance to turn their fate around, even in the midst of these hard economic times. Help us make the Service League an organization that can meet the challenges of the next 60 years for our clients!