Metropolitan Charities, Inc., the organization that operates the Metro Community Centers, Metro Thrift Store and the LGBT Welcome Center, along with HIV and healthcare services across Tampa Bay, was awarded a $375,000 federal grant from Office of Minority Health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
The grant, a part of the Re-Entry Community Linkages (RE-LINK) Program, is to support efforts to improve the health outcomes for minority and/or disadvantaged re-entrants, ages 18-26, in transition from jail to their communities.
Metro Charities is among only seven organizations to receive the funding. The total funding awarded for the RE-LINK program is approximately $2.4 million.
“Metropolitan Charities, Inc. is an important partner in working with the HHS Office of Minority Health to address the barriers to obtaining services that improve the health outcomes for minority and disadvantaged young adults in transition from jail to their communities,” said Dr. J. Nadine Gracia, deputy assistant secretary for minority health and director of the HHS Office of Minority Health, in a press release.
Metro hopes to use this program to connect the re-entry population to community-based organizations that provide links to health care, including behavioral health care services, health care coverage, and social services such as housing, adult education, and employment assistance programs.
Grantee projects will demonstrate the effectiveness of multiple stakeholders within the public health system working together to implement a model transition process for the formerly incarcerated. The goals of the RE-LINK program are to improve coordination among the criminal justice, public health, social service and private sectors to address health care access for the re-entry population; reduce health disparities experienced by this population; increase access to needed public health, behavioral health, and social services; and reduce recidivism.
“Our team at Metro is honored and excited to be included in this grant that will provide critical linkage to services for disadvantaged racial and ethnic minority young adults of Pinellas County upon re-entry,” Metro CEO Lorraine Langlois said.
