With Rockview state prison closing in March, CentrePeace Executive Director Barbara Squires has heard the rumors that the future of her organization and its work is in doubt.
She wants community members to know that they aren’t true.
No, CentrePeace is not closing the 3047 Benner Pike thrift store near Bellefonte that is at the heart of its work with currently and formerly incarcerated individuals. And no, it is not losing the nonprofit status that it has held since opening in 1994.
In fact, the Rockview closure will have virtually no impact on CentrePeace, which dedicates most of its work to individuals incarcerated at the nearby Centre County Correctional Facility.
“CentrePeace has always worked with folks incarcerated at the Centre County Correctional Facility,” Squires said. “[Rockview’s closure] has no bearing on what we’re doing at all.”
Squires has been trying to get correct information out as she has heard from more community members who told her they heard of CentrePeace’s imminent demise or drastic change in operations. One resident, she said, told her they were informed by their homeowner’s association that CentrePeace would not longer be available for donating used furniture and home goods. Others have said they heard CentrePeace had lost its nonprofit status and had to be acquired by a for-profit entity because of Rockview’s closure.
“Nothing has changed and nothing will change,” Squires said. “We’re still plugging along, helping the residents of Centre County, in all the ways that we always have. And it’s not going to change just because Rockview is closing.”
Part of the confusion may stem from CentrePeace’s origins. The organization has roots in Marie Hamilton’s work with Rockview inmates starting in the 1970s and development of programs for incarcerated individuals that eventually led to the creation of CentrePeace.
CentrePeace operates 16 programs, and some are geared toward inmates at state prisons like Rockview and neighboring Benner Township. But its day-to-day work is focused on the Centre County Correctional Facility.
The most visible of those is the CentrePeace store, which funds the entirety of the organization’s proceeds and serves as a hub for its reentry programs.
Project Restoring Lives gives trainees from the correctional facility an opportunity work in the store and gain job skills, confidence and a renewed sense of purpose during their incarceration. Last year, the program had 25 trainees.
“Our mission is to work with currently and formerly incarcerated to help them break down barriers, to reduce the rate of recidivism,” Squires said. “Everything that they do here when they come from CCCF, we look at it as on-the-job training. And we make sure that they are skills that are transferable to any employer, such as loading and unloading a truck, cleaning, customer service: how to talk to customers, how to assist them with different things, carry stuff out, treat them with kindness, just working with people in general.”
Outside of business hours, trainees also engage in lessons for personal development and financial literacy, non-violent conflict resolution and workplace readiness.
Trainees also earn store credit to purchase essential items after their release. They also can participate in the Trainee Advancement Program, which allows them to have a post-release job at CentrePeace, usually for up to 90 days, while also receiving help securing long-term employment.
CentrePeace has seen over the years a decline in the average number of individuals participating in the trainee program due to changes in state laws that have reduced the amount of time inmates spend in county jail for some offenses, Squires said.
But the programs remain a vital link for incarcerated individuals and those just returning to society. Vital enough that CentrePeace sustained its operations over a nine-month period during the COVID-19 pandemic when it could not have any trainees on sight.
The Trainee Advancement Program grew from that experience, and CentrePeace also hired other additional employees, bringing its staff to about 10 people, Squires said. They’re supported by dozens of volunteers in the store, as well as more who work with other CentrePeace programs like its penpal initiative to provide encouragement and hope to incarcerated individuals.
“We are here to serve the community of Centre County because even if only one person’s life has changed — this is the way we look at it — it’s not just one person, because that one person has a family, they have friends, they have an employer, they have neighbors,” Squires said. “When they’re incarcerated, it affects all those different things. If they’ve lost their job because of it, or whatever, it has a wide-reaching span with even just one person.”
