A healthy re-start program in York focuses on mind and body for ex-offenders

The people who ex-offenders cross paths with the days and weeks after they leave prison is crucial to their success. Bro2Go, an empowerment organization for those who have served time and at-risk youth, has partnered with Family First Health to help launch a healthy start for these men and women.

“It’s vitally important to have organizations … family members, friends that are connecting with their loved ones that are incarcerated, because everyone makes a mistake, everyone goes down the wrong road,” Da’Laine Simpson, founder and CEO of Bro2Go said while launching a partnership with Family First Health .

Simpson said that he is in York County and Dauphin County prison on a weekly basis.

The organization helps those leaving prison with emergency shelter, obtaining valid identification, aids in workforce development, resume writing, searching for jobs and helping to obtain tools for work, like protective gear, Simpson said.

With an office in York at 101 S. Queen St. and in Harrisburg at 1821 Fulton St., Bro2Go serves at-risk, ex-offenders from York, Dauphin and Cumberland counties.

Simpson learned of Family First Health through their social media presence and thought that a partnership was a natural evolution for both services.

“As a federally qualified health center, we work with individuals that are under-insured, any medical, dental or optical. … We do a lot of work with reentry, we also go to the York County Prison. We try to meet individuals where they are,” Erin Schmidt, community medical program manager for Family First Health said.

Simpson said that the partnership is important to make ex offenders aware that the resource exists as they relaunch their lives.

Photos: Look inside the abandoned old York County Prison, unused for almost half a century

“Your health is the most important thing you can do,” Simpson highlights as a foundation for success in life.

“It’s that one person that is looking out for someone to help them, to pick them up, a person to lean on and guide them along the way that will make the difference” that Simpson sees as a game changer for someone exiting prison.

This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: A healthy re-start program in York focuses on mind and body for ex-offenders