“A million miles and we’re riding high, To fight the dragons from an era long gone by. A lifetime never lasted so long — thundering horses bolt away to worlds beyond.” Prophets, Dukes and Nomads by Blue Coupe could be one of dozens of songs performed at the annual Family Re-entry benefit concert and for this cause, rock n’ roll has never sounded better. Featuring the band Blue Coupe, made up of former Blue Oyster Cult and Alice Cooper band members, all proceeds from the April 13 event at the Warehouse at Fairfield Theatre Company will benefit the Family Re-entry program.
Family Re-entry is a non-profit organization based in Norwalk and Bridgeport, Conn. that assists men who have recently been released from incarceration. Through a variety of community based programs, Family Re-entry has spent the past 33 years reducing the likelihood that these men will re-offend and be rearrested or reincarcerated.
Their goal? To disrupt the intergenerational cycle of incarceration where children with parents who are or were incarcerated are more likely to go through similar circumstances. Yet, this is no easy task and for many of these men, a lifetime really “never lasted so long.”
According to Executive Director Jeffrey Grant, some of these men are released with advanced behavioral health concerns that they developed during or before their incarceration, while others need support and time to learn how to find jobs, housing or how to re-integrate themselves into their families.
“It is vital that we reach these individuals at critical junctures in their lives,” Grant continues, “and provide them with enough support so that they can have every opportunity to achieve, learn and grow as citizens who are not forced to return to the kind of activity that caused them to be incarcerated in the first place.”
Proclaimed on the Family Re-entry website as being the first previously incarcerated person in the United States to be appointed as Executive Director of a major criminal justice non-profit, Grant is in a particularly unique position to be able to make a huge difference in the lives of the men who attend Family Re-entry programs.
“Our hopes for the concert,” Greg Walsh, who is the president of Family Re-entry, said, “are fundraising, a good time for everyone; great music from a great band, and some awareness for the Family Re-Entry cause.”
“Currently, there are over 2.3 million people incarcerated in the United States and over 70 million with criminal records,” Grant explained. With programs like the Family Re-entry organizations, these numbers can continue to go down, helping not only these men and their families, but also lowering the amount of tax dollars spent on those who are incarcerated. With a projected goal to raise $90,000 to support their programs, tickets are being sold at the Warehouse for $50 each.
The company hopes to beat the past attendance records at the concert by selling at least 400 tickets by the start of the concert at 7:30 p.m. on April 13.
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