The funds will allow the program to continue offering services to former offenders re-entering the community.

Unified Erie’s re-entry program for ex-offenders returning from prison will be around for at least another year.

The program, known as the Erie County Re-entry Services and Support Alliance, has received a $455,000 grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Education.

The Greater Erie Community Action Committee, under which ECRSSA operates, announced the infusion of new funds Thursday.

The funding was acquired through a joint effort by state Sen. Dan Laughlin, R-49th Dist.; and state representatives Pat Harkins, D-1st Dist., and Bob Merski, D-2nd Dist., GECAC said.

ECRSSA launched in 2016, after the Erie Community Foundation and United Way of Erie County provided a three-year, $1.2 million grant to jump-start the program. ECRSSA said in September that it was at risk of shutting down if a new funding source couldn’t be identified when the grant money ran out.

Bridge funding from the Erie Community Foundation and United Way helped keep ECRSSA afloat until the funding announced Thursday came through.

ECRSSA offers re-entry services to former prison inmates returning to the community in hopes of reducing recidivism. It is part of Unified Erie’s three-pronged approach to reducing crime: prevention, enforcement and re-entry.

Erie County District Attorney Jack Daneri said he was “extremely pleased” by the grant.

“Within the initiative, the re-entry prong is arguably paramount to achieving a safer community,” he said. “It’s provided a much-needed opportunity and generated tangible results.”

Sheila Silman, ECRSSA’s program manager, estimated in September that the program served more than 400 former inmates since it began in October 2016.

The program quickly saw success. Among the 152 clients who received intensive case management from ECRSSA between 2016 and 2018, 7 percent received new charges that resulted in a conviction and incarceration, according to program statistics.

Erie County’s average recidivism rate for ex-inmates, which includes those who are reconvicted and reincarcerated within three years of their release from prison, is 41 percent, according to data prepared by the Mercyhurst University Civic Institute. The Civic Institute provides research and data analysis for Unified Erie.

“We’ve had many individuals tell us they would not have been able to achieve personal success, reach their goals, and would have gone back to prison, without the support of ECRSSA,” said Silman, who is retiring soon.

The grant announced Thursday will also fund continued call-ins, which are another Unified Erie program aimed at reducing gun violence.

The call-in program offers a deal to community members with links to criminal networks: give up crime, and you will receive help accessing resources, such as education, job training and other support.

Unified Erie held its first call-in on April 26, 2017, and went on to host several more events. The call-ins were immediately successful in reducing the number of gang-related homicides in Erie.

Contact Madeleine O’Neill at moneill@timesnews.com. Follow her on Twitter @ETNoneill.