PRESS RELEASE - March 15, 1999

Contacts:

Paul Gerald, Media Relations (503) 239-7324 or gerald@betterpeople.org

Chip Shields, Exec. Director (503) 281-2663 or chipshie@spiritone.com

On the web betterpeople.org

Non-Profit Better People Adds to Board of Directors

Portland-based Better People - a privately-funded, non-profit offender program whose mission is to dramatically reduce the rate at which offenders return to crime in Multnomah County - announced today that it has expanded its board of directors.

The board's makeup is now as follows:

Edward J. Hill, President - Attorney, Carney, Buckley, Kasameyer, and Hays

Christopher G. Lundberg, Vice President - Clerk, Oregon Court of Appeals

Zoe Perez, Treasurer - Wilshire Financial

Todd McKee - Merrill Lynch

L.E. "Jack" Wagner - Sedgewick of Oregon

Michael Sirtori - Stoel Rives LLP

Jane Jackson - Intel Corporation

Jay R. Swedblom - Intel Corporation

What is Better People?

Better People is an employment and counseling program for former offenders. A strong advocate for the offender, Better People only accepts job orders from companies that offer a minimum of $8/hour plus health benefits. Since opening in June, Better People has placed 30 former offenders in benefitted jobs at an average of $9.12/hour. An additional 34 former offenders are now enrolled with Better People.

Better People is the first program in the nation to combine job placement and retention services with a therapeutic approach called Moral Reconation Therapy (MRT). MRT is a well-researched and well-documented cognitive-behavioral approach aimed at systematically altering how offenders make decisions - how they think. MRT improves offenders' reasoning and fosters their social and moral growth. It has been shown to reduce recidivism (the rate of offenders returning to crime) from 25% to 60% in more than 30 states and in Ontario, Canada, and Puerto Rico. MRT is also used system-wide in the states of Washington and Oklahoma, and in Oregon's Washington County.