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The one indisputable reality encompassing the work of the Blair County Prison Re-entry Coalition is that its efforts will continue to necessitate utmost patience and understanding.
Absent one or both of those two assets, the coalition will be doomed to failure and, ultimately, extinction.
All of that became clear from reading articles in the Mirror's Feb. 8-9 and Feb. 10 editions.
What also became clear from reading those articles was that the coalition is -- and will continue to be -- dependent upon support from the community in general and certain important entities within it.
Also clear but not specifically addressed in the article was how easy it could become for coalition personnel to experience discouragement over possible slow pace of successes or, worse, abject failures along the way.
The Feb. 8-9 article, which centered on the coalition's Housing Subcommittee, reported on the successes of finding suitable housing arrangements for two former county prison inmates, although efforts on behalf of a third former inmate were reported to have been unsuccessful.
Meanwhile, the Feb. 10 article, dealing with the coalition's Education Subcommittee, discussed the challenge of steering ex-inmates to available job opportunities consistent with their abilities and desired types of work.
The respective tasks of the two subcommittees will be exercises in friendly persuasiveness built upon the foundation of fact that a former prison inmate-turned-community-asset is preferable over policies and attitudes that end up encouraging rather than discouraging recidivism -- a relapse into criminal behavior.
For the housing subcommittee, the goal will be to reassure potential landlords that the coalition is equipped to provide what was described as "wraparound" services to help former inmates become worthy tenants.
Services also will be available to help landlords if problems develop with the inmates, according to the coalition.
For the Education Subcommittee, the focus must be on "fair chance hiring practices," which entail giving individuals with criminal records an equal opportunity for employment.
As part of that goal, the Education Subcommittee is planning a workshop, possibly including a panel discussion, aimed at encouraging local employers to hire former prison inmates.
Under a panel-discussion framework, the "ups and downs" of fair chance hiring could be brainstormed openly, as well as how to successfully fine-tune interactions between the Re-entry Coalition and employers considering participation in the program's worthy objectives.
But, as the Feb. 10 article pointed out correctly, there are many details to work out before convening the workshop.
A well-organized session of that kind, offering the best of available information, insight and experienced individual viewpoints, must be the ultimate intent to lure employer participants.
Likewise, it might make sense to hold a similar workshop for landlords, so that frank discussions with them could alleviate some of their fears about providing shelter for former inmates.
The Feb. 10 article provided the following two paragraphs:
"Almost one in three U.S. adults --about 70 million people -- have criminal records, and face 'immense employment barriers' when looking for work, according to Checkr, an agency that provides background checks for employers.
"The unemployment rate for former inmates is 27%, according to Checkr."
What the Blair Prison Re-entry Coalition is attempting will always be hard work because of the many opportunities for successes to evolve into failures. However, most people here understand that the talent is available here to make it all work.
Keep patience and understanding, as well as persistence, at the forefront on win-win's behalf.