Meyer Trust Gives

Better People $75,000

Better People was recently named the recipient of a $75,000 grant, payable over three years, from the Meyer Memorial Trust.

"This Meyer Memorial Trust grant will allow us to expand our efforts in reducing recidivism (offenders returning to crime) in Multnomah County," said Chip Shields, Better People's Executive Director. "It will also lay a foundation for other fundraising by lending credibility to our requests to other local and national funders and donors."

The Meyer Trust, one of the Northwest's largest foundations with assets of nearly $470 million, is a general-purpose grantmaker funding a broad array of projects in Oregon and a small part of Washington adjacent to the Portland area. It was created by the late Fred G. Meyer, founder of Fred Meyer, Inc.; however, there is no relation between the company and the trust.

"Better People addresses a very real community need," said Victor Merced, a Program Officer with the Meyer Trust. "We are aware that the kinds of clients Better People serves will increase in number as more and more people are released from incarceration over the next five or 10 years. Better People is one of the few organizations addressing this need."

Since opening in June of 1998, Better People has placed 43 former offenders in jobs that pay an average of almost $9 per hour plus health benefits. What makes Better People different from other job-placement services is that it includes Moral Reconation Therapy, a well-researched and well-documented cognitive-behavioral therapy approach aimed at systematically altering how offenders make decisions -- how they think. MRT has been shown to reduce recidivism from 25% to 60% and is in use in 32 states. Another unique aspect is that Better People only works with companies that pay at least $8 per hour plus health benefits.