FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
March 14, 2014

CONTACT: Peter Van Delft
(617) 704-6682

SHERIFF’S DEPARTMENT ATTENDS TENPOINT COALITION MEETING TO DISCUSS WOMEN’S PROGRAMMING

Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department Director of Women’s Program Services Christina Ruccio (center) addressed members of the TenPoint Coalition at their monthly meeting at Twelve Baptist Church in Roxbury, along with Superintendent of MCI Framingham Lynn Bissonnette (left) and Reverend Tracie Jackson Antoine from Safe Havens.

Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department employee Christina Ruccio recently participated in the Boston TenPoint Coalition’s monthly breakfast meeting at the Twelfth Baptist Church.

This meeting, which honored National Women’s History Month, brought women from different organizations together to present information about their organizations and what services and opportunities they offer to women.

Christina Ruccio, the Director of Women’s Program Services at the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department, presented information to the group about the demographics of the women incarcerated at the House of Correction, programs that the Department offers them and how the Department prepares them for reentry back into society.

After describing the Department’s efforts to partner with community–based organizations, Ruccio discussed the Sheriff’s Department’s ongoing relationship with Project Place, an organization that provides skills, education, and resources to obtain employment and housing to homeless and low–income individuals.

"We’re committed to working with our women around employment," said Ruccio. "At the Suffolk County House of Correction, Project Place is one of our principal partners and we’ve been with them for over eight years. It’s pretty remarkable to have a government agency partner with a community–based agency for that long. The reason why it’s happening is because of Sheriff Tompkins’ commitment to insuring that we provide the funding for this contract. I want you to know how invested Sheriff Tompkins is in making sure that the programming–the female programming at that – works."

Ruccio also highlighted a recent grant that Women’s Programming received from Northeastern University via Project Place in order to fund a new Career Center.

"Project Place received a $10,000 grant from Northeastern University to put together a Suffolk County Women’s Career Center, which will be unveiled soon. This is a milestone for us. We’ve got brand new computers, bookcases, and we’ve got brand new paint on the walls. We’ve got a bunch of different resources coming in from resume writing, to staff coming in and out and helping them with mock interviews. I want my women to be able, in the same way that they can go to the library twice a week or the yard twice a week, to go to that career center twice a week."

Thursday, April 10th, the day the career center is slated to be launched, also marks the day of the second annual mock job fair where twenty selected sentenced women will have the opportunity to interview with approximately ten organizations and agencies. Although they are not guaranteed employment with these organizations, they will have the opportunity to exchange business cards. In the past, some of the participating women have been able to secure employment through the fair.

To conclude her presentation, Ruccio encouraged people to learn more about women’s programming at the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department and emphasized that the work that she and the other employees at the Department do is working towards a bigger goal.

"I hope you see that there’s a lot more that goes on behind the walls than people think and it’s not just a place where we throw women — that doesn’t happen," said Ruccio. "We have a very committed staff, and we’re trying to create almost a mini community–based organization within those four walls and I encourage anyone to learn more about it. This is actually one of the best parts of my job — being able to get out into the community and share with you all of the good work that’s being done at the Department."

To learn more about Women’s Programming at the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department, please visit www.scsdma.org.

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