A BRIDGE TO A SECOND CHANCE:
GATEKEEPER PILOTING NATION’S FIRST BENEFIT ENROLLMENT CENTER (BEC) FOR INCARCERATED AGING & DISABLED ADULTS TRANSITIONING TO THE COMMUNITY
Gatekeeper, a program of St. Luke’s Community Services since 2010, in partnership with Connecticut’s State Department on Aging (SDA), Department of Corrections (DOC), Department of Social Services (DSS), and through funding support from the National Council on Aging (NCOA), launches the nation’s first pilot Benefits Enrollment Center (BEC) for the purpose of exploring, identifying and addressing service systems challenges that incarcerated older and disabled adults experience as they transition back to the community.
The Gatekeeper BEC is a person-centered and community-based concept that is designed to provide services to older and disabled individuals in prison and as they are discharged to the community. In particular, the pilot BEC will focus on helping individuals as they navigate through the challenges of applying for Medicare, the Medicare Savings Program (MSP), Medicaid, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, and other benefits. The goal is for the Gatekeeper BEC to provide continuity of service for individuals by building sustained professional relationships with them during discharge planning in prison, relationships that they will be able to trust and rely on once they discharge from prison and return to their communities in the hope that it will help individuals avoid some of the pitfalls that can lead to further crime, prison recidivism, and ongoing adverse impacts on families. Thus, the expectation is that the Gatekeeper BEC, in establishing and administering this model program, will help reduce prison recidivism rates across Connecticut.
The Gatekeeper website is now accepting BEC referrals www.gatekeeperct.net and will offer a series of educational events for all professionals working with this unique population on topics relevant to the experiences of incarcerated older and disabled adults as they transition back to their communities. Save-the-date for the first event which will be…the 2017 Gatekeeper Northeast Regional Conference
“A Bridge to a Second Chance:
Benefit Enrollment Centers for Incarcerated Older & Disabled Adults”
Wednesday, September 27, 2017, 7:00am – 4:00pm
The Middletown Elks Lodge, 44 Maynard Street, Middletown, CT 06457
