27-02-2025
This New York Bill Aims to Give Returning Citizens A Six-Month Cash Stipend
Criminal legal reform advocates in New York state are pushing for the Reentry Assistance Bill, which would provide increased financial support for citizens returning from jail. Currently, New York offers citizens a one-time $200 stipend upon their release from state prison. The assistance bill, filed as New York Assembly Bill A. 193, proposes stipends of $425 each month for up to six months for eligible citizens who remain compliant with the conditions of their release.
Fully funding the annual $25 million bill would cost less than 1 percent of New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision's 2026 fiscal year budget. Sam Schaeffer is the Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO), a nonprofit that offers employment to formerly incarcerated people. He says the bill is a no-brainer opportunity to provide genuine assistance to returning citizens.
'We can't expect someone when they come home with $200 to navigate New York City or Buffalo or Long Island,' Schaeffer says. 'So much of someone coming home is just trying to figure out who can help them. And people, when they have a little bit of resources, can begin to navigate what's a really complex and labyrinthine process. But, if we give them nothing, it's almost impossible.'
Schaeffer says that the idea for the bill developed from the success of their Returning Citizen Stimulus, crafted during Covid-19 quarantine. CEO typically provides daily employment (and daily pay) for formerly incarcerated people, but the Covid lockdown kept them from offering outside labor opportunities. And most newly incarcerated people couldn't apply for government assistance because they hadn't filed taxes in the prior two years. So CEO helped raise roughly $24 million, the largest conditional distribution to formerly incarcerated people.
The Returning Citizen Stimulus program was implemented in 28 locations, but 95 percent of participants were in seven cities: Denver, Detroit, Los Angeles, New Orleans, New York City, Oakland, and Tulsa. In New York, the Fortune Society, Osborne Association, CASES, and EXODUS Transitional Center partnered with CEO to distribute $4.3 million in cash assistance to 1,756 people. Returning citizens received up to $2,750 in three increments over 60 days, remaining eligible for the payments by completing employment-related milestones such as creating resumes. CEO says that over 90 percent of Returning Citizen Stimulus participants made good on employment goals, and Schaeffer contends that the stimulus helped him realize the necessity of offering employment access as well as cash assistance.
'I had thought previously that workforce development, getting someone a job, and giving them money were slightly different things. They're totally interconnected,' Schaeffer says. 'We saw people actually maintain participation in programs at just such higher levels, even during Covid, because they had money, they had some of their anxieties and basic needs met.' He also asserts that people made the 'wisest and smartest' decisions with the funds. 'They were, sometimes for the first time in their lives, experiencing autonomy at this level. And they were using the resources in unbelievably creative and productive ways,' he says.
Schaeffer recalls that one Returning Citizen Stimulus recipient used part of his funds to pay for a family member's funeral. 'He was like, 'I've been the black sheep of my family. The fact that I could step up and come through at that time, it felt so good. But also, now, that helped rebuild trust with my sister and she's letting me stay here.'' He also referenced a woman in Colorado who put her RCS stipend into savings, which ran counter to her habit of irresponsibly 'blowing' money. The woman told him that 'by showing I could just keep the money in the bank, it brought [her and her children] a lot closer and it rebuilt that trust.'
New York resident Dion Johnson came home from a six-year prison sentence in December 2019 when he began working with CEO. New York provided a $40 stipend when Johnson was released, which typically only covered the bus ride home. New York Governor Kathy Hochul raised the stipend to $200 in last year's budget, but Johnson says it's still insufficient. He broke down the basic costs that would quickly deplete the funds: a bus ticket, a meal, and essentials such as underwear and toiletries. He notes that once a returning citizen goes to a loved one's home, 'that money's gone' and they may not have another way to contribute to the household.
Along with providing music management for acts in New York and Detroit, Johnson currently works as an advocacy fellow at CEO, and a credible messenger at New York Presbyterian Hospital. He says that the Reentry Assistance Bill would greatly benefit returning citizens.
'The blessing that I see is not only the amount that they're going for, but the fact that it's going to be dispensed over a period of time,' he says. 'It's not going to be one lump sum. So that way it's going to help them to budget.' He adds that the assistance will theoretically help returning citizens stay on the straight and narrow. 'When you don't have that assistance, or you have something as minimal as $200, it puts your back against the wall, and some people may be tempted to go back to their old ways: 'Oh, I got to hit the block, man, this ain't enough money right now.''
A 2024 press release by the New York state corrections department revealed that since 2020, when the Returning Citizen Stimulus began, the state's 19 percent recidivism rate was the lowest since the department began tracking recidivism in 1985. Schaeffer believes that the Reentry Assistance Bill would further decrease those recidivism rates, which would help New York reach their Reentry 2030 program goals. 'In the long run, we will return significant cost savings to the state by lowering levels of recidivism,' he says. 'There's also an economic motive that if we can provide people real meaningful support, we won't end up having to pay for it on the backend in terms of more state tax dollars.'
New York State Assemblyman Edward 'Eddie' Gibbs sponsors the bill. In 2022, he became the first formerly incarcerated individual elected to the New York State legislature. He agrees with Schaeffer that the bill 'is a crucial step towards breaking the cycle of recidivism that too often traps people and undermines our communities,' adding, 'This monthly stipend isn't a handout; it's an investment in successful reentry for people as they navigate the transition back. When formerly incarcerated individuals have the tools they need to rebuild their lives, they're going to do better and they're far less likely to re-offend which creates a safer environment for everyone.'
Schaeffer says that there are two similar reentry funding measures in other states. In California, the Helping Justice-Involved Reenter Employment (HIRE) initiative distributed $50 million for job training and financial support to returning citizens in 2023. But the initiative wasn't a component of California's 2024 fiscal year budget; advocates are urging Governor Gavin Newsom to renew HIRE funding. And in Colorado, the Senate Judiciary recently voted to postpone the Reentry Cash Pilot, which replicated the Returning Citizen Stimulus. CEO is working to propose other reentry assistance initiatives in the state.
On March 4, CEO is holding a day of advocacy in Albany, New York, where they will inform legislators and other power brokers about the efficacy of the Reentry Assistance Bill. Schaeffer will be in attendance as well as Johnson, who looks forward to informing assembly people about the bill's necessity. He believes it's a chance for citizens to destigmatize incarcerated people and help them seek a better life.
'My whole life was stripped. I had to go up North. I went to prison, which is modern-day slavery. That's enough,' Johnson says. 'Why wouldn't you want to help someone that's already making an effort? Because it's not like they just going to give the money to anyone. It's certain criteria [to qualify]. And I feel that as citizens, just to be able to contribute to a better society, everyone should want to help. No one has any right to condemn someone for their past.'
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