Description
Call us or stop by our main office in Long Island City headquarters during visiting hours to learn more about our programs and services. No appointment necessary!
Hours:
Monday-Thursday: 8am-8pm
Friday: 8am-5pm
Walk-In Hours: 8am-1pm
Mission
The Fortune Societys mission is to support successful reentry from incarceration and promote alternatives to incarceration, thus strengthening the fabric of our communities.
The Fortune Society employs a holistic 'one-stop shop' model of service provision, offering a comprehensive array of in-house social services to over 7,000 people with incarceration histories each year via three primary New York City-area locations: our service center in Long Island City, and both the Fortune Academy (a.k.a. 'the Castle') and Castle Gardens in West Harlem. We also have a regular presence in four borough courthouses, on Rikers Island, and numerous New York State prisons.
List of Services
Housing:
Housing locations and types:
THE FORTUNE ACADEMY
Since opening its doors in 2002, our Emergency and Transitional Supportive Housing Program at The Fortune Academy in West Harlem has provided a safe, rehabilitative community for people coming home from incarceration. Through regular case management, we assist residents with a wide array of needs, including gaining and maintaining stable housing and employment, substance use treatment and recovery, financial planning and management, and family reunification.
CASTLE GARDENS
Adjacent to The Fortune Academy in West Harlem is Castle Gardens, a mixed-use, supportive, and affordable residential development and service center in an environmentally sustainable building. It provides long-term housing solutions for justice-involved individuals facing homelessness and their families, as well as low-income individuals and families from West Harlem and the greater New York area.
SCATTERED-SITE HOUSING
Through our Scattered-Site Housing Program, Fortune staff serve as mediators between landlords and tenants, ensuring homeless, formerly incarcerated individuals living in neighborhoods across the five boroughs of New York City have access to safe, stable, and affordable housing.
Employment Services:
Types of employment services
SOFT SKILLS JOB READINESS TRAINING
The Soft Skills Job Readiness Training program focuses on interview preparation, plus workplace and retention success. Through the program, jobseekers develop a valuable set of tools for their job search, including instruction on producing a professional resume and how to discuss the content on it, problem solving and time management skills, and practice in answering difficult questions especially surrounding their criminal justice involvement. Completion of this program is prerequisite for the Skills Training and Internship Programs listed below.
CULINARY ARTS
Mission Statement: The Fortune Society’s mission is to support successful reentry from incarceration and promote alternatives to incarceration, thus strengthening the fabric of our communities.
We do this by: BELIEVING in the power of individuals to change
BUILDING LIVES through service programs shaped by the needs and experience of our participants
CHANGING MINDS through education and advocacy to promote the creation of a fair, humane, and truly rehabilitative correctional system