Better People Receives $80,000

from Murdock Trust

Better People, a privately-funded non-profit employment and counseling program for ex-offenders, has received a grant of $80,000 over three years from the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust.

The Murdock Trust, founded in 1975 and possessing assets of nearly $500,000,000, seeks to enrich the quality of life in the Pacific Northwest by providing grants to organizations that seek to strengthen the region's educational and cultural base in creative and sustainable ways.

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 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.

Executive Director Chip Shields says Better People will use the funds to continue its mission of reducing recidivism, the rate of offenders returning to crime, in Multnomah County and other areas.

"This generous grant from the Murdock Trust will allow us to expand our efforts in reducing recidivism," Shields said. "It will also lay a foundation for other fundraising efforts by lending credibility to our requests to other local and national foundations and donors."

In June, Better People received $75,000 from the Portland-based Meyer Memorial Trust. Founding funders include the Black United Fund of Oregon and the United Way Community Investment Fund.