By Judy Salamacha

Former educator, Dona Wilson, believed students dropping through the system’s cracks deserve another chance.
When she met Sister Theresa Halprin at an education workshop at San Luis Obispo County’s Juvenile Hall, Wilson discovered a program she believed would help those she always wanted to help — many of whom had chosen addiction and/or crime and were serving time.
Last July 1, Wilson began a new career as the Re-entry Mentorship Program Director for Restorative Partners. She knows the program is working, as Wilson celebrated several success stories, of course without giving any names of these minors.
One young woman deeply involved in South County gangs was released to a sober living program and upon successful completion took a job in the restaurant industry. She is currently a candidate in the management program and paying her bills.
Wilson explained that she had to break all ties with her family and former friends and build a new network to create a productive lifestyle.
Another young man involved in gangs learned baking while “inside.” He has been clean and sober for 4 years and is currently an apprentice chef.
Wilson described a married couple, whose addictive lifestyle caused them to lose their five children. Today they are house managers for male and female recovery homes. The wife gets up every day singing the mantra, “I won’t use drugs or alcohol today.”
“Our goal,” Wilson said, “is to guide them to a place of healing. Before, they would get a bus pass with no support system after release.” Restorative Partners offers a life-altering program while “inside” and then a first-time reentry program and support network for habitual offenders—– often transitional youth who are 16-24-years old upon release.
Dixie Howell is one of five staff members along with 200 volunteers working with Restorative Partners. She has come full circle transitioning after incarceration to parole at her sober-living home. She worked up to house manager of the home then excelled during her career training internship.
Today Howell is the community outreach coordinator for Restorative Partners and volunteers as a re-entry mentor.
Howell said, “Coming out, my biggest issues were housing stability and someone to trust me enough to give me a job and transportation to get there.”
Wilson noted auto dealer, McCarthy’s Wholesale, and Transitions Mental Health have programs with Restorative Partners and it is typically the small business owner who is willing to give someone a chance.
In 2011, Sister Theresa Harpin, Capt. Michelle Cole, and Chief Deputy Probation Officer Gary Joralemon sparked the idea for a San Luis Obispo Restorative Partners Program.
Sister Halprin and Cal Poly volunteer, Joe Andino, moved forward with programs at the SLO County Jail and Juvenile Hall such as yoga, art, reading and writing, and hiking, so-called, “alternative lifestyle” programs. The umbrella non-profit sponsor was the Sisters of St. Joseph Ministerial Services.
Then in 2015 the County Correctional Program funded the Restorative Partners Mentoring Program for offenders after they were released, providing a safety net and training they needed during their transitions.
Something needed to be done to reverse the trend of recidivism, identified by the National Institute of Justice as ”…criminal acts that resulted in re-arrest, reconviction or return to prison with or without a new sentence during a 3-year period following the prisoner’s release.”
A special report in 2014 by the Bureau of Justice Statistics cited a study that followed over 400,000 released offenders from 2005 to 2010 in 30 states and discovered about two-thirds were re-arrested for a new crime within 3 years, with a third of those within the first 6 months to a year.
Restorative Partners has demonstrated that mentorship is effective in reducing recidivism. Staff and volunteers look at the whole person to encourage a total transformation with help from people who care when societal stresses seem overwhelming.
Mentors spend at least 4 to 6 hours a month with their mentees, going hiking, to a Thursday night street fair or other activities matched to their mutual interests.
Wilson said the program’s greatest needs are mentors willing to give of their time and talents and businesses willing to offer an internship or a job.
“Crime touches all of us,” Wilson said. “When I talk to potential mentors, I ask if they have ever helped someone? Then I’ll have them recall how it made them feel.”
Why wouldn’t we want to help someone to a happier life and productive citizenship? See: www.restorativepartners.org to learn more or to volunteer.

Freelance writer, columnist and author, Judy Salamacha’s Then & Now column is a regular feature of Tolosa Press. Contact her at: [email protected] or (805) 801-1422 with story ideas.