We are pleased to announce that today, July 1, 2015, THE PROGRAM for Women and Families officially merged with Pinebrook Family Answers to become the agency’s Forensic Services Department. THE PROGRAM for Women and Families was originally founded as a branch office of THE PROGRAM for Female Offenders in 1980. In the 1990’s, the agency expanded the scope of its community-based services to include programs for youth at risk of delinquency. In 2011, their mission was revised to include services for all adult offenders – including men. Today, the work of THE PROGRAM remains on the cutting edge of the field of reentry and the movement to “get smart on crime” by implementing evidence-based programming that has been proven to reduce recidivism among the justice-involved populations served.
Annually, THE PROGRAM serves over 1,000 justice-involved individuals, but this work impacts countless others. By educating and supporting underserved populations of adult offenders and disengaged youth to make positive changes in their lives, it effectively reduces rates of crime and delinquency. By reducing recidivism rates, the impact that the incarceration of parents has on the children of offenders is dramatically reduced. As unemployment rates among the under-skilled and under-educated is reduced and as the value of economic self-sufficiency is realized, some of our community’s most vulnerable Families are strengthened, and urban neighborhoods in Allentown and beyond are revitalized.
Dr. Joyce Dougherty has served as the Executive Director of THE PROGRAM since 1998. Implementing her plan to transition into semi-retirement, she will be staying on in a part-time role as a Forensic Grant Writer and Project Coordinator for Pinebrook Family Answers. Ms. Lori VanDoren, MSW, LSW, the former Director of Program Services at THE PROGRAM, will be the Director of Forensic Services.
“We are so pleased to welcome THE PROGRAM into our array of services” said Bill Vogler, President of Pinebrook Family Answers. “Their mission, history, and positive reputation in the Lehigh Valley are a perfect complement to what our organization provides, and adds considerable value to what we do. We will be even stronger together as one organization.”