TAMPA, Fla. -- A new grant for the City of Tampa is helping some former inmates get back on their feet.
- Federal grant helping Tampa-agency that lends helping hands
- Re-entry programs helps ex-inmates rejoin society
- Tampa Bay Academy of Hope
The $1.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Labor is now a lifeline to some who recently got out of prison.
Enter Glen Booth, who has been out of prison for a month and is trying to get his life back on track.
"I need to do something," Booth said of a job search. "I'm just trying to find anything right now."
Booth has been seeking assistance at the Tampa Bay Academy of Hope, an agency that provides a variety of programs, training and services for the community.
"The employment part is just a piece of it," said Titiana Lamb with TBAH of helping inmates. "Where by, they may have poor skills, they may not have education, they may not have completed high school."
That's where the grant comes in.
According to TBAH officials, less than 10 percent of their participants go back to prison - far less than the state average. The grant will allow for expansion of the program and an opportunity to help more people.
Jose Morales, in prison for selling cocaine, knows firsthand what help from the academy can do.
"It was hard because when I came out," Morales said. "I'm a convicted felon, I didn't have a place really to stay, there were just a lot of things leaning towards me trying to push me in that negative lifestyle again.
"And if it hadn't had the help that they gave me, there's a high chance that I probably would have went back."
Morales landed a job in Orlando.
The academy started the re-entry program in 2013.
This year, it will have 355 participants.