PRESS RELEASE -- October 29, 1999

Contacts:

Paul Gerald, Media Relations 239-7324
Chip Shields, Executive Director 281-2663

Better People Expands

Board of Directors

Better People, a privately-funded non-profit employment and counseling program for ex-offenders, has added five new members to its Board of Directors.

The new members are as follows:

Robert C. Hughley, Ed.D. -- Education/ Evaluation Consultant
Sam Jackson, Jr. -- Gunderson, Inc. (retired)
Brian Ross -- Te Nation
L.E. "Jack" Wagner -- Marsh, Inc. (Formerly Sedgwick of Oregon)
Patricia Warren -- U.S. West (retired), Warren Insurance Service

Better People is the first program in the nation to combine job placement
and retention services with Moral Reconation Therapy (MRT), a well-
researched and well-documented cognitive-behavioral approach aimed at
systematically altering how offenders make decisions -- how they
think. A recent study shows that for every dollar invested in MRT
programs, taxpayers and crime victims receive $11.48 in benefits.

A strong advocate for the offender, Better People only accepts job
orders from employers who offer a minimum of $8/hour plus health
benefits. Since opening in June of 1998, Better People has placed more
than 50 former offenders in jobs actually averaging almost $9/hour plus
health benefits.