State Gets Grant To Help Children WIth Parents In Prison

An Arkansas program to help the kids of prisoners keep their lives together and stay straight has received more than a million and a half dollars from the federal government. Leaders of the program, called Mentoring of Children of Prisoners, announced the grant today at a news conference at the state Capitol. The program is a partnership of several state and nonprofit agencies. Dee Ann Newell of the Centers for Youth and Families said the three-year grant will pay the program 525,000 dollars a year. She said that money would be matched by 200,000 dollars in state funds -- plus in-kind services from nonprofit agencies valued at 150,000 dollars. The Centers for Youth and Families estimates that 50,000 to 60,000 children in Arkansas have at least one parent in prison or jail. Newell estimated that the federal grant and its matches would enable the mentoring program to help about 1,300 kids over the three-year period of the grant.