Childcare provided by Hour Children
Photo: Courtesy of Hour Children

Hour Children

Hour Children, located in the Long Island City/Astoria area, helps incarcerated and formerly incarcerated women and their children successfully maintain family connections, rejoin the community, reunite with their families, and build healthy, independent and secure lives. Hour Children’s community-based programs include: supportive housing; employment training and placement; therapeutic services; and childcare. In prison, Hour Children provides visitation services, parenting education, and a residential nursery.

Results

Historically, the recidivism rate for Hour Women has been 3.5 percent, significantly less than the state-wide average of nearly 40 percent.

Profile

In June 2013, Dominique was released from prison and moved into an Hour Children residence where she was soon reunited with her six year old daughter. She also enrolled in the Hour Working Women Re-Entry Program which found her a scholarship to pursue the training she needed to become a welder, a skill she began learning while incarcerated. Now, while Dominique is in school, her daughter attends Hour Children’s after school program. Dominique’s incredible progress is the result of her desire to make positive changes in her life with her daughter and her determination to move into a career that will provide for their new life together.