No Violence Alliance (NoVA)

Providing reentry services and intensive case management to individuals released from San Francisco jails.

The No Violence Alliance (NoVA) is a collaborative project operating in partnership with the San Francisco Sheriff’s Department since 2006. NoVA’s intensive case management includes:

• Violence prevention services
• Family reunification
• Employability and employment skills
• Housing
• Transportation
• Substance abuse disorder (SUD) treatment
• Medical services

Case managers coordinate services for their clients in the community. Intensive case management allows clients to establish necessary connections within the community, resulting in successful re-integration into the Bay Area.

NoVA is a voluntary program. Individuals currently confined in San Francisco County Jail may submit an inmate request to be interviewed for NoVA while they are in custody, and individuals released from San Francisco County Jail within the past year may walk-in to 424 Guerrero Street (Suite A), 567 7^th Street, or 70 Oak Grove for initial assessment. Successful applicants work with their case managers to develop their individualized treatment plan. NoVA accepts all formerly incarcerated individuals who demonstrate motivation to change.

For information or to apply for NoVA’s services, please contact Gerald Miller, at (415) 621‑5661 ext. 100 or gerald@​cjcj.​org.

NoVA clients receive a continuum of services provided by a collaborative of community and city providers:

• CJCJ
• Citywide Forensic Program
• Mission Council on Alcohol Abuse for the Spanish Speaking
• Recovery Survival Network
• San Francisco Pretrial Diversion
• San Francisco Sheriff’s Department
• Senior Ex-Offender Program, Bayview Hunters Point Senior Services
• Resolve to Stop the Violence Project

NoVA staff support and assist clients in all aspects of reentering the community. CJCJ case managers maintain small caseloads, between 12 – 18 clients, and are accessible to their clients 24 hours a day. They develop comprehensive individualized treatment plans to address the unique needs of each client. NoVA emphasizes violence prevention through education and accountability.

A formal evaluation of NoVA in 2007 by Pendergrass & Associates and LaFrance Associates, LLC found that NoVA effectively reduced the likelihood a client would return to jail following release. A July 2009 follow-up study concluded that 36% of NoVA clients were rearrested compared to 68% of a comparison group. Read the full evaluation.

CJCJ and its partners developed NoVA in October 2006 in response to a growing national concern about repeat violent offenders. NoVA’s primary goal was to address violence in certain targeted areas of San Francisco by reducing recidivism and aiding offenders in the reentry process. A 2011 recidivism study by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) showed 65% of prisoners released returned to prison within 3 years. For many formerly incarcerated individuals, deficits in education, employment, and housing opportunities provide significant barriers to reintegrating into the community and sustaining a law-abiding lifestyle.

Committed to addressing the special needs of violent offenders in San Francisco, CJCJ, the San Francisco Sheriff’s Department, and various other community providers established NoVA to reduce the number of individuals returning to an extralegal lifestyle upon reentering the community. The program was so successful that San Francisco expanded the program to accept all returning offenders, in lieu of opening another jail.

To learn more, read No Violence Alliance (NoVA) Project.

Contact:
Gerald Miller, Director of Community-Based Services
Tel: (415) 621‑5661 ext. 100
Fax: (415) 621‑5466
gerald@​cjcj.​org