Roarke Center has a way out of jail

Agnes Zink doesn't know why many of the women she works with were in Rensselaer County Jail -- and she doesn't need to know.

"We're not concerned with what your crime was, but what we can do for you today," she tells female inmates when they begin attending The Roarke Connection, a nine-month-long program she coordinates for women being released from incarceration.

For Elizabeth (last name withheld), a participant in the program, that attitude came as a surprise. Ms. Zink believes that women are often negatively branded for life after being incarcerated, more so than men.

Welcoming place

Elizabeth affirmed that she was pleased to be treated with dignity by Roarke Connection staff after being in and out of prison.

"I was amazed at the way I was received," she said. "You come out to the street and don't have nobody to at least hear you, to know you're not alone."

The Roarke Connection hopes to improve on that. The program was created in 2003, when the Roarke Center in Troy was searching for new and better ways to serve the poor and struggling in the city. Ms. Zink, who previously ran a volunteer program at the Rensselaer County Jail, proposed adding The Roarke Connection.

Filling a need

"There certainly is a need for it," she told The Evangelist. "Two guys can get in a fight and end up in jail, and it's not the end of the world. But, when women do, they're looked on in a whole new way. When they're released, it's tough for them."

The jail is many women's first experience in the criminal justice system, Ms. Zink explained. They write bad checks or are convicted for drug offenses, assault or breaking probation, and are sentenced to up to a year.

When they're released, they often have nothing but the clothes on their backs -- no homes, no jobs and few ideas on how to rebuild their lives.

Breaking the cycle

"Many are the products of their environments," Ms. Zink noted. "They've never been given the resources or skills to live. I've met young girls who lived in the projects; they were running drugs for their parents, and then they get out in the real world. They've got a lack of education, and they go to McDonald's [for a job] and they're making $5 an hour."

Such women often end up falling back into the drug culture, she said, just because they don't know what else to do.

Now, Ms. Zink or Sister Kathleen McGuire, DC, another Roarke Center staffer, spends two hours a week at the Rensselaer County Jail. They begin with trust-building activities, and arts and crafts with about 20 women there.

"You lose a lot of your identity when you're incarcerated. A lot of times, first names aren't even used," Ms. Zink told The Evangelist. But through the activities, The Roarke Connection "brings [inmates] together as women, not rivals. That's important, because they have a tendency to break off into little groups [in jail]."

Building trust

In the program, the women learn to care for one another. The Roarke Connection also supplies some of the women with money for the commissary to buy personal products and warm sweatshirts for the cold weather.

By the time the women are released, they know they can trust The Roarke Connection staff to help them with other needs: finding housing, getting assessments for addiction or mental health treatment, even getting winter clothing. A weekly support group lets newly-released women share their frustrations and hopes, and The Roarke Connection helps many to realize the dream of going back to school.

"My worst problem was asking for help," Elizabeth remembered. "I had to look for help."

The Roarke Connection, she said, helped her "with everything: dealing with parole, the support group, food, household things, clothing, making sure I'd be [at] appointments." She paused, saying wryly: "I suffer from forgetting."

Success story

When Elizabeth decided to go to college, The Roarke Connection helped out with buying textbooks and finding transportation. At the center, she learned how to use computers and got assistance with homework.

Today, she's a part-time student, boasting of her good grades and planning a career in human services.

"I want to be a counselor for people with AIDS in the Hispanic community, to give back what they gave me" through The Roarke Connection, she said. "They have opened my life."

Expanding

In less than two years, The Roarke Connection has served about 50 women and has expanded to include inmates at state prison, since many are held at the Rensselaer County Jail before being transferred there.

Roarke Connection staff write to the women while they're incarcerated and help them to access services once they return to Troy.

"They're all wonderful women," said Ms. Zink. "They just want to be the best they can be."

Commencement

In May, The Roarke Connection will hold its first "commencement ceremony" for women who have gone through all nine months of the program. Ms. Zink said there are more success stories than she can count; the program has only a 16 percent recidivism rate.

One future graduate, she boasted, is a single woman in her 20s, once incarcerated but now working toward a nursing degree; another is a single mother who has conquered an addiction, gotten a job in retail and was just promoted.

Ms. Zink said these women are "achieving goals that were only dreams before" -- and coming back to attend the support group, telling their peers that the same thing can happen for them, as well.

Center has many sides

Sister Linda O'Rourke, DC, director, spoke about the many other people helped by the Roarke Center, including a homeless man who was living in the woods behind a neighborhood in Latham. The center found him a place to stay, but he said he missed the woods.

"You can go on vacation to the woods," staffers pointed out, but they advised him to leave his possessions where he lived, because that was now his home. The man agreed. He has now been off the streets for two years.

"They know we care about them," Sister Linda said of the center's clients. "We will do whatever we can to improve their lives."

That's attested to by Elizabeth, a client, who said: "I did not expect such kindness. It's like a gift from God. You come here and you don't have to worry about people judging you for your past. They helped me understand that it's okay to accept the past. I did my mistakes, and I'm learning from them."

In addition to its many other programs and services, the Roarke Center has just instituted a free health clinic for the uninsured, in conjunction with Seton Health.

Every Wednesday from 6:30-8:30 p.m., doctors and nurses from Seton volunteer to staff the clinic, treating everything from skin conditions to high blood pressure, and helping people get health insurance and referrals to other services.

Sister Linda said that she's gratified to see how the center has grown over the years, but saddened that it had to grow "because that meant there were so many unmet needs."

The Roarke Center, sponsored by the Daughters of Charity religious order, also offers programs on art, literacy, sewing, weaving, computer use, photography, writing and weight management, as well as food assistance and case management for people who need help in accessing benefits and services.

(The Roarke Center is named for Sister Mary Basil Roarke, a native of Troy. It can accept donations of money or non-perishable food. It is located at 107 4th St., Troy -- next to St. Anthony's Church. Call 273-8351.) (KB)

(4/14/05)