Friday, January 21, 2011
I'm enthusiastic about work that I've begun as executive director of The Michael G. Santos Foundation (MGSF). It's an organization that I've been instrumental in putting together to contribute to a safer society. Initially, the Foundation will focus on California, but in time I expect to expand the work we're doing to states across the nation.
The Foundation received its status as a nonprofit charity from the Internal Revenue Service in the fourth quarter of 2010. Then, in December it received sponsorship from The California Wellness Foundation, and additional sponsorship from various private foundations.
First we will focus on preparing at-risk adolescents and offenders to lead law-abiding lives. We're taking a strategic approach with hopes of delivering quantifiable results. As a time line, the Foundation will evolve over four, six-month segments. During the first six months, we are collecting data from a wide group of offenders. That data will help us design the program during the second six month segment. During the third and fourth six-month segments, we'll implement the programs that resulted from our research.
The foundation will implement its programs in jails, prisons, and centers where at-risk adolescents congregate. We expect to quantify our results by measuring them against published recidivism rates. To the extent that graduates of the Foundation's programs advance to lead law-abiding, contributing lives, we will consider it a success.
Our objective is to deliver our program to 1,000 individuals during the next 24 months. We expect to have a preliminary design of the program before the end of April, and we're also hoping to introduce a beta program. The Foundation will open a Web site available at www.MichaelSantos.org by the second week of February. It will detail progress of the programs available and even feature profiles of participants who are working through it.
I'm enthusiastic about leading this new group and I look forward to sharing my work with all who have an interest.
