October 21, 2006 Second Chance plans to honor graduates at our Celebration of Success party, hosted by our first corporate sponsor, SeaWorld. Please join SeaWorld in sponsoring our celebration, and help Second Chance continue to give at-risk San Diegans the opportunity to transform their lives. We have sponsorships available at all levels and we ask you please visit our website and download the sponsorship form. Thank you.

Reaching out to Released Offenders It seems like every day we are seeing more stories regarding problems with prison overcrowding and recidivism in California. It was refreshing to read the column by District Attorney Bonnie M. Dumanis and Supervisor Greg Cox ("Shutting prisons' revolving doors," Opinion, Aug. 3). It was one of the first articles I've seen in a long time that directly address solutions to this growing problem. The problem of recidivism is reaching epidemic proportions, with more than one of every three parolees returning to prison within two years of their release. At Second Chance, a nonprofit organization that operates mostly on private funding, we deal with this issue every day in our Prisoner Re-entry Employment Program, or PREP. In PREP, Second Chance workers reach out to prisoners who are nearing parole to recruit them for the program. Those who qualify are picked up at the prison gate on release day, provided with alcohol-and drug-free housing and enrolled in a three-week intensive course to learn job-readiness skills. Participants are also offered mental health counseling, case management and job-placement services for up to two years. We know from experience that most PREP graduates do not go back to prison. This is critical at a time when the state is experiencing record prison overcrowding. The state's 33 prisons, which were built to house a total of 100,000 inmates, currently house more than 175,000. San Diego absorbs 11,000 released offenders every year, the fourth-largest total of any U.S. city. As executive director and founder of Second Chance, we applaud the county for taking a proactive approach toward the critical issue of recidivism. Scott H. Silverman Second Chance Executive Director/Founder

We invite you to attend one of our STRIVE Graduations so you can see and hear from the participants who committed themselves to "Suit up and Show up!" Our next STRIVE graduation takes place, Friday, August 25, 2006 at 11:00 AM here at our headquarters, 6145 Imperial Avenue.