American Idea Foundation

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WIEA: Promoting Redemption in the Wisconsin Correctional System

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By: AIF Staff

In 2018, following years of bipartisan collaboration and consensus-building, Speaker Paul Ryan signed The First Step Act into law. This legislation, which united the left and the right, modernized our criminal justice system by reforming federal sentencing guidelines and establishing programs to help individuals reacclimate to their communities following interactions with America’s prison system.

But, as the name implies, this legislation was only a “first step” and with over 2 million Americans currently in jail, prison, probation, and parole, the task of effectively reducing recidivism has never been more important. And as policymakers and community leaders help individuals re-enter society and rebuild their lives, they should continue taking an evidence-based approach to reducing recidivism.

Speaker Ryan has long believed that “good policy begins with good evidence.” It’s why, in academic works like Rethinking Reentry, he has encouraged lawmakers to take a methodical, circumspect approach towards reducing recidivism. It’s also why he has consistently supported those front-line organizations who are applying evidence-based solutions to re-entry programs.

In 2023, one of the groups that Ryan’s American Idea Foundation will be partnering with is the Wisconsin Inmate Education Association. The WIEA is focused on helping men and women incarcerated in the Wisconsin prison system transform their lives through the completion of an in-prison college curriculum which provides them with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Biblical Studies.

WIEA’s rationale is straightforward: By encouraging inmates to embrace an alternative identity centered around faith and education, WIEA believes their intervention will lower levels of misconduct, stimulate spiritual transformations, and improve families and communities by changing behaviors for the better. WIEA’s approachis evidence-based and they measure success by looking at factors like personal transformation, levels of violence, community and family impact, and overall recidivism reduction.

To qualify for WIEA’s degree program, inmates must complete a rigorous application process detailing their academic history and criminal behaviors while also passing a Department of Corrections’ screening process. Up until this year, upon acceptance into the program, students would be transferred to Waupun Correctional Institution, a maximum-security prison.

They would then attend a full week of orientation and attend classes 7 hours per day, 5 days per week. After four years, they would receive a B.A. in Biblical Studies from Trinity International University. Following graduation, they would serve as Field Mentors to help promote the program within the prison population and to serve other inmates.

This year, the Wisconsin Inmate Education Association moved their program to the Fox Lake Correctional Institution, a medium-security prison, and the Taycheedah Correctional Institution, which houses female inmates. WIEA believes that by conducting this program at medium-security facilities as opposed to a maximum-security prison, more individuals will take part and its impact will grow.

WIEA is looking to double the number of enrolled students in the next year and, in the process, they will not only transform the lives of people inside our correctional facilities but also improve the Wisconsin communities these individuals will ultimately re-enter. 

WIEA’s approach – expanding opportunities for incarcerated individuals who are trying to learn from their mistakes and doing so in an evidence-based way – will hopefully show a path forward to meaningfully reduce recidivism, strengthen our communities, and increase respect for the rule of law. It’s why Speaker Ryan is so excited to partner with WIEA as their efforts expand throughout the state.

Friends of the Children: A long-term mentoring program rooted in evidence

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By: AIF Staff

Earlier this year, AIF President and former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan announced 7 non-profit organizations across the country would receive financial support and strategic assistance from the American Idea Foundation in 2023 as they continue their amazing work of expanding economic opportunities and reducing poverty in their communities.

Ryan’s goal in providing this support is to help front-line organizations identify, test, and evaluate promising interventions and solutions so that their true impact can be measured and so their solutions can be scaled (if and when the results merit).

The hope is by having more evidence and better evidence and by incorporating evidentiary findings into their programming, these non-profits and the federal government can do more to help individuals in need.  A commitment to using evidence and data to solve problems is one of the main characteristics that the American Idea Foundation looks for when partnering with organizations, and it’s why the Foundation is excited to support Friends of the Children in the year ahead.

Friends of the Children is a national non-profit organization, operating in 33 different communities, that selects and invites youth – all of whom have unique talents, interests and dreams, and face multiple systemic obstacles – to be paired with a paid, professional mentor called a Friend. The organization hires and trains Friends to support youth from as early as age 4 through high school graduation. They are a long-term intervention and the Friends’ full-time job is to empower and support youths and their caregivers.

Friends of the Children revolutionized the youth mentoring field by creating the first and only long-term professional mentoring program in the country. Each child gets a dedicated, one-on-one Friend who listens to their hopes and dreams. Friends spend a minimum of 14 to 16 intentional hours per month with each child. They encourage their child to set – and achieve – specific goals. Friends also create meaningful experiences that empower youth to build life skills and make healthy choices while exploring the child’s diverse talents and interests.

The Friends of the Children model is centered around nine Core Assets that ensure the social and emotional development of youths. These Assets include: Growth Mindset, Hope, Belonging, Problem Solving, Self-Management, Self Determination, Perseverance, Finding your Spark, and Positive Relationship building.

The Friends of the Children 2022 Annual Report shows that while they are about developing lasting, long-term relationships that benefit our youth, they are also focused on data and evidence. Friends of the Children is regularly collecting data and conducting research and evaluations to drive improvements. They are currently engaged in a longitudinal RCT with NYU and the University of Washington to study the program’s impact. The longitudinal study, currently in its 15th year, is the longest-running youth mentoring RCT in the country and will be completed in 2026.

In the upcoming year, the American Idea Foundation will help support Friends of the Children’s existing research and evaluation and also help fund its 2nd-generation longitudinal study. This research aims to maximize the effectiveness of Friends of the Children’s work in terms of child welfare and self-sufficiency. For decades, Friends of the Children has been a leader in using evidence to evaluate the impact of their program. They are making an enormous difference across the country and the American Idea Foundation is proud to assist them in bettering more children’s lives.

Brigid’s Path: Saving our most vulnerable at their most vulnerable time

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By: AIF Staff

As the number of Americans dying from drug overdoses increases almost every year, organizations around the country are actively developing solutions to help those families and communities plagued by substance abuse disorders. These organizations know that addiction does not just impact the individual user, but has a ripple effect that can change the trajectory of entire families.

This is particularly true when thinking about substance users who are pregnant and preparing to give birth. Newborns who suffer from Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome, which occurs when babies withdraw from substances they were exposed to in the womb, are the most vulnerable of the most vulnerable. They enter the world and, through no fault of their own, immediately face a series of health challenges which can reverberate throughout their entire life.

These newborn babies deserve the best care that the American health care system can provide. Their parents deserve care and treatment so families can stay intact and so children can be raised in an environment free from the scourge of addiction.

Every child should be given the opportunity to live a healthy, productive life and that is why the American Idea Foundation is actively supporting the work of Brigid’s Path in Kettering, Ohio.

Brigid’s Path is the first, in-patient, newborn recovery center in Ohio. Founded in 2014, its mission is to care for newborns who have been exposed to an addictive substance like opioids or other drugs during pregnancy. From almost the moment of birth, Brigid’s Path and its team of trained health care professionals employ the latest therapeutic and medical techniques to help babies be as comfortable and as healthy as possible while they experience withdrawal.

At a critical stage in a newborn’s development, the medical staff of Brigid’s Path shower them with love and attention 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. As they care for the newborns, they also care for the parent, working with community partners to provide resources that help moms raise their children in healthy and safe environments. They do this on a one-to-one basis, offering wrap-around services so families can stay together, bond, and develop healthy relationships. As Brigid’s Path cares for the medical needs of newborns, they also help mothers meet goals and develop connections within the community that last long after their baby leaves Brigid’s Path.

To date, Brigid’s Path has helped 214 babies and will care for around 70 babies and families in 2023. Because of Brigid’s Path, in 2022, 90% of the babies treated went home last year with a parent or family member. Without the organization, 77% of those babies would’ve been sent directly to the foster care system.

Brigid’s Path is making a difference every single day by fighting for those babies who cannot fight for themselves. They are giving newborns a chance to grow and thrive and, at the same time, they are giving parents an opportunity to remain in their child’s life.

The support provided from the American Idea Foundation to Brigid’s Path in 2023 will help raise awareness about the organization’s transformative efforts. The American Idea Foundation will help Brigid’s Path tell amazing stories of individual transformation and will work to buttress the evidence and data associated with their program in the hopes of scaling and replicating it in other communities suffering from the scourge of drug abuse.

Addiction is a complex problem, but Brigid’s Path is making a difference one baby at a time and is playing a critical role in helping our most vulnerable have a chance at a healthy and productive life.