Intro: Welcome to the Table

The table is, for many of us, a place to gather with family and friends, a place of encouragement, of love, of sharing. For countless Hour women and children, we are that table. Steadied by the support of Hour programs, the women who begin their journey with Hour Children at Bedford and Taconic Correctional Facilities and the Rose M. Singer Center at Rikers Island, come to Hour table full of hope and eagerness to participate. Hour Children’s four pillars of support are: Housing and Community, Workforce Development, Childcare and Mental Health Services. It is this table, with these supports, that help Hour women and children stay focused on creating a bright future together. This safe gathering space, filled with love, is the reason Hour Children has a less than 3% recidivism rate, as compared to New York State’s rate of more than 20%. Hour Children has touched the lives of tens of thousands of women and children in its 35+ years of service?a testament to the belief that Change Takes Time and Love Makes the Difference.

It Begins in Prison 
Hour Children helps bring incarcerated moms and their children together throughout the moms’ prison sentence. Meeting at a table in the visitors’ center, a mom will spend hours interacting with her child – playing games, coloring, reading. Finding ways for mothers and children to connect as often as possible is a major goal of Hour Children. Hour Prison Programs include:

• Residential Nursery at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility
• Children’s Center Playroom
• One day and Multi-day Visiting Program, including a summer day camp program
• Parenting Education and Advocacy
• Visiting, Family Assistance and Advocacy Programs at Rose M. Singer Center at Rikers Island
• Mentoring Program for Children of Incarcerated Women

It Continues in Community 
Hour Children’s communal housing offers women a place to reunite and strengthen their bonds with their children. Hour transitional housing provides a structured environment for moms and children, gathering together to support each other, sharing meals and chores. As families grow stronger, they move from communal living to supported independent living.

The women attend Hour Working Women together, which provides job training, educational assistance, internship placement, and employment services. The children participate in Hour Tots daycare program or Hour School Fun after school and Hour Summer Fun day camp programs. Hour Teen Scene provides enrichment and support for young people, ages 12 through 18. Supporting Hour women and children as well as the surrounding community, Hour Food Pantry and community programming addresses hunger and health-related issues that affect low-income families, and Hour Thrift Shops provide job training as well as reasonably priced clothing and items for creating warm home environments.

All of Hour programs are sustained by Hour mental health services team of supportive social workers that includes a child therapist.

A Story of Generations 
Thirty-six years spans over three generations?encompassing the lives of women, their children and their grandchildren. Sister Tesa Fitzgerald built Hour Children from humble beginnings, caring for the children of incarcerated women and then expanding that care to include the women themselves, helping them build strong connections with each other. Expanding again to provide the love, care, and services needed for Hour Women to re-entry the community and reunite with their children – housing, childcare, career training, and mental health services. This love and patience instilled in Hour programs plays out in Hour success – a recidivism rate of less than 5%, compared to New York State’s 23%, and not one of Hour Children getting negatively involved in the criminal justice system.

Join Hour Families on the Journey 
So take a hand and let’s dive into the water
And every now and then being human
We’re gonna falter,
But we’ll press on and be strong
And we will survive it
And every path that’s wrong
Together we can right it
–Joss Stone, “Walk with Me”

Please join Hour Children and the women and children who come to the table full of hope and eagerness and determination. Together, we can help create lives filled with love because Love Makes the Difference.