Re-entry coalition due to shut down

Polk and Haralson County’s Re-Entry Coalition is no more after a lack of interest and inability for its leadership to keep up with day-to-day needs of potential clients.

Program coordinator Betty Sue Kelley said that the Tallapoosa Judicial Circuit’s Re-Entry Coalition — formed in October 2015 to help parolees come out of prison with potential success - can’t go forward any longer due to several issues.

She cited in a May 12 email ahead of the final Board of Directors meeting for the organization last week that several factors have come into play, from difficulties with local support to the loss of Terrance Hale, who moved onto a new job and left the Cedartown office of the Georgia Department of Labor in past months.

She also said there has been a lack of interest from clients participating in the program, and her own issues that cause day-to-day running of the coalition difficult.

During the final coalition meeting, it was decided to use the final $756.75 left in the bank account to spend on graduation catering for the final class’s June event, special diplomas for each of the final seven clients, paying for gifts for them, and for current volunteers who have participated in large part since its inception more than a year ago.

The upcoming graduation is being held on June 28 at 9 a.m. at the Department of Labor office in Cedartown in the Northside Industrial Park off the Cedartown bypass.