Featured Story: Gerry Stribling
Gerry Stribling, manager of IVTP in Kentucky and a former veteran, has traveled to all 14 state prison and camps in Kentucky to meet with VETS CLUBS in the facilities and interview veterans getting ready to transition to the community. "Pre-release meetings with the veterans to assess the needs and having housing for that veteran on the day he leaves the facility is the key to success," Stribling said. Stribling and his staff of four transition workers — all of whom are veterans — often meet the veterans at the prison gate and transport them to their initial lodging location. Being available to assist with the veterans day-to-day needs, arranging job training or job interviews, linking veterans to Veterans Administration health and benefit systems and arranging transportation are some of the many supportive services provided by the program.
It’s the veteran-to-veteran contact," said Stribling. "They know we care." Less than three percent of formerly incarcerated veterans served by the program since its inception in Kentucky have committed another offense.