To date, the program has conducted nine 12-week support groups for approximately 90 women. Each support group enrolls about 12 women. The first begins in January and ends in March, the second runs from April through June, and the third from September to early December. Between five and eight per support group complete the 12-week program. Those who drop out typically have complicating problems such as substance abuse that require them to follow a different track. Whether they complete the 12-week group or not, the project continues to track them, and to correspond with and offer support to them through its Pen Pals program.

Over 90% of the women in the program have substance abuse issues. Many have little or no education or job skills and are, therefore, an extremely difficult population with which to work. We think the true miracle is that so many women have persevered against often enormous odds, have completed the program, and have successfully re-entered their home communities where they were reunited with their families, found jobs, and stayed out of jail. One graduate even joined the project’s advisory board. The recidivism rate for women who have completed the program is approximately 3% as contrasted with the typical 75% recidivism rate for those who have not. The program is continuing.