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Former Tacoma Reentry Center Severs Washington DOC Contract

Loaded on Jan. 15, 2025 published in Prison Legal News January, 2025, page 43
Filed under: Release and Reentry, housing. Location: Washington.

Progress House Association (PHA), the sole reentry center in Washington’s Pierce County, ended its contract with the Washington Department of Corrections (DOC) on June 30, 2024. Founded by the late Rev. Leo C. Brown Jr., PHA served the formerly incarcerated for over 50 years before CEO Cynthia Fedrick (Brown’s daughter) decided that limitations in the DOC contract distracted the nonprofit from its mission to provide community-based programs.

Along with the state’s $1.7 million contract, PHA could accept only prisoners released by DOC who met certain criteria. Fedrick said without those limitations, facility monitors would be retrained as life coaches and mentors. The new Palaver House, as PHA is now known, is a transitional housing program for Black and Indigenous people returning from incarceration. It offers life skills training, education, trauma treatment and relapse prevention, plus housing and employment assistance. The name comes from the West African tradition of bringing a community together to listen to all voices while talking through a problem.

A DOC spokesperson said that 80 PHA residents were transferred to reentry centers in four other counties while the agency searches for another option in Pierce County.  

Source: News Tribune 

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