August 24, 2024 • 18 mins
In the coming weeks, 18 men who are incarcerated at the Norfolk County Correctional Center will be learning some serious kitchen skills through a new collaboration between the Snapchef Foundation and the Norfolk County Sheriff's Office. The aim is to help these justice-involved individuals get on the right path after they're released with these culinary skills under their belt and a clear path to a new career. Norfolk County Sheriff Patrick McDermott and Carley Snopkowski at SnapChef talk with Nichole about this new program and why it's so important to set these people up for success.
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
From WBZ News Radio in Boston. This is New England Weekend.
Each and every week we come together, we talk about
all the topics important to you and the place where
you live. It is so good to be back with
you again this week. I'm Nicole Davis. In the coming weeks,
more than a dozen men incarcerated at the Norfolk County
Correctional Center. We'll be learning some pretty serious kitchen skills.
(00:28):
Eighteen men in all are getting ready to be the
first group to take part in a new program brought
there through the snap Chef Foundation. Learning how to cook
is important here, but it's not just about that. It's
about teaching discipline, building confidence, and helping these men develop
a sense of purpose while chasing their passions in the
culinary field. Sheriff Patrick McDermott is here to chat with
us about this, and Carly Snopkowski is at the foundation,
(00:50):
so it's good to have you both here. Carly, we'll
begin here by talking about the work you're doing at
the foundation. Tell us a bit about that.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Yeah, So, the snap Chef Foundation is a nonprofit branch
of snap Chef, which is a culinary staffing and placement
company that's been around for over twenty years in New England.
And really the Foundation was born out of a need
for skilled skilled workers in the food service industry. So
(01:18):
Todd and Daniella, the founders of Snap Chef, which again
is a staff and company, We're putting people out into
these shifts, into restaurants, into hospital schools, and these people
were coming and didn't really know how to you know,
chrap vegetables or how to prep these large meals and
so the need for a training program was really evident.
(01:43):
So that's kind of what got them started on the Foundation.
So we provide a comprehensive culinary training program that equip
people with those skills that they need to go out
and be ready for the workforce. In addition to just
those hard skills, we focus on the soft skills as well,
(02:04):
so you know, having your uniform all nice and clean,
showing up on time, your attitude. So we call it
knife skills and life skills. We know both are key
for someone's success.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
Yeah, well, how I'd be curious to know. Obviously a
lot of restaurants closed during the height of the pandemic.
The industry was hit really, really hard. How has the
Foundation been able to make its way through that, and
what do you see now as more and more people
try to get back into the food industry.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
There were a lot of individuals that left, so that
definitely hit our industry extremely hard. What we're seeing now
are new people who maybe weren't in didn't even consider
food service industry before, kind of coming to us now
and being really interested in it. We do staff a
(02:54):
lot of snapshoft staff. Staff's a lot of larger places
like hospitals and schools, so those are always kind of
a steady flow of needing staff. But the restaurants were
definitely hit hard.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
So then let's move over to you, Sheriff McDermott, because
you are working with the foundation to create really a
one of a kind program that I have not seen
before when it comes to helping people who are justice
involved get into a better place before they leave and
after they leave your jurisdiction. So tell us about why
you decided to partner with SNAPSCHEF.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
Well, it all comes with a philosophy really at the
end of the day, and you know, the corrections has
evolved immensely over the last twenty years or so, and
even more rapidly over the last five years, and I
was blessed to be elected as sheriff in twenty twenty,
and you know, we put together a very you know,
comprehensive foundation of where the mission of the Sheriff's Office
(03:54):
should be, and it was based upon four principles of prevention, intervention, education,
and hope. We are more than just a place for
care and custody, although that is what we principally do.
But as I just had a little town hall meeting
in our kitchen actually with some of our workers who
are just as involved individuals, you know, I basically said
(04:15):
to them, you know, the programming that we have offered
here is basically to give you the best opportunity to
succeed post incarceration. I've often joked on all of the
careers that I've had in life, with the exception of
my kitchen career back a thousand years ago, that I've
always tried to put myself out of business, And even
(04:36):
as sheriff, I would love to see the day that
we see a lack of a need for prison systems.
I think that diverse programs that allow for alternate programs
to incarceration are great, and I think when you inspire
individuals to feel as though that they have a better
pathway in life, then you can find a better way
(05:01):
to fix our communities and certainly the crime rate and
the recidivism rate. So there are people that want a
better way. They certainly nobody wants to be incarcerated. And
so the programming that we are being we are offering
now isn't just programming to check the box off. You know,
some guys say, if I take a program, will it
(05:22):
give me an extra good day? And do I qualify
for early release? That's not good enough for me. I
want people to embrace programming that is going to really
transform who they are, why they get up in the morning,
and where they're going to be going with their life
and their career. And a job is great, but a
(05:44):
career is what will propel you to the next thing.
So when we looked into who we want to partner with,
and I believe in the power of partnerships with our
nonprofit community in our private sector, and when we looked
into finding ways we could partner with groups specifically on
how to find jobs for people in this twenty first
century corrections environment. We know that there are jobs in
(06:06):
the hospitality industry, and we wanted to work with people
that are boots on the ground, that know the training
that's required, the discipline that's required, and really the vision
to inspire individuals to fix their current situation. Snapchef kind
of checked all of those boxes off for us, and
(06:29):
we were blessed to have not just their partnership, but
the partnership of our friends at the Secretary of Labor
and Workforce Development and the com with the Massachusetts through
this grant. And so we believe that the Norfolk Sheriff's
Office with snap Chef being able to transform. Right now,
we're designated to basically transform eighteen justice involved men that
(06:53):
will spark something, I think hopefully in their life that
we just like I said the town hall I just
had with seven of the guys, they're not necessarily in
the program yet, but they're all asking about it because
they all know about them. They are all excited, and
I said, this is an opportunity. They talked about their kids,
They talked about being able to find out how one
guy's trying to get into a first time home buyer program.
(07:15):
You don't do that without a job now, right, So
this program is going to transform lives for at least
eighteen people. We're really excited to get this off and
run and we're very blessed to have a partnership with Snapschef.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
And it's not just the eighteen then it's eighteen more
and eighteen more. And like you said, the goal is
to empty the prisons, and that's exactly it. And the
goal is to make sure that everybody has direction. Because
I've spoken with a few other people who work in
the recidivism space and trying to lower that rate, and
a lot of them have said low level offenders oftentimes
are just lost and they're trying to either provide for
(07:49):
their families or their younger people who don't really know
what they should be doing. Maybe they come from a
conflict area that they don't really know how to navigate.
So I too have in a kitchen, So I appreciate
Shriff that you understand and Carly that you get it.
There is a lot of exhausting days, but it also
does require a lot of discipline, but also you get
(08:10):
to be creative and you get to say I did
this with my own two hands, make your own recipes
and make people smile when you see them tasting the
food that you've made. All of those things are just
incredible opportunities for these people.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
It totally aligns with our mission. So empowerments really the
heart of the mission of our foundation. So to empower
those individuals, break down barriers to employment, and just really
build those stronger, you know, people, families and communities. It's
just a win win.
Speaker 3 (08:42):
You're talking about, you know, the recidivium rate and the
low level offenders and that you know, the vast majority
of the folks that are incarcerated at the Sheriff's OVAs
at our level in the houses of correction are those
folks that are that are serving up to two and
a half years in the house of correction. There's no
crime that to me is like theoretically low level. But
(09:04):
you know, we are dealing with a recidivism rate probably
higher in our jails locally because of the fact that
you're sentenced to sometimes thirty sixty one hundred and eighty days.
Not many people are serving two and a half years.
But it's those low offenders that have the highest risk
of recidivating only because sometimes we don't have enough time
(09:27):
to work with them within the jail and they don't
have the skill set in place when they get back
out to the community, and therefore they go back to
what they know, and sometimes what they know isn't necessarily
what makes them productive. So not only are we partnering
with Snapschef on this program and many other other programs
that we have in place, but the formula that we're
(09:49):
working with there is a continuum of care. Even in
the event that somebody starts a program here at the
jail at the Sheriff's Office, no at post incarceration program
that's going to work cooperatively. So our Hope Center and
brainch Tree is something that is building out. We just
opened it in April, and all of our programs are
(10:11):
going to be affiliated with post incarcerated individuals as well
as members of the public who are possibly at risk
of being involved in the criminal justice system. So this
program is really the beginning of what will be a
long term commitment by the Norfolk Sheriff's Office to cut
down on the amount of recidivism, but also just preventing
(10:33):
people from getting involved in the criminal justice system in
the first place because of lack of a job skill,
lack of a career, lack of education. These are the
things that create a safer community and that's what we're committed.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
To for sure. So then Carly tell us a little
bit about when one of these men enters this program,
what are you going to be teaching them? How are
they going to learn about how to develop these skills?
Speaker 2 (10:57):
Right, So, when we were kind of trying to to
develop this program because it is a little bit unique
working with people behind the wall, we're really excited to
be able to start it pre release that way. I
feel like people they just have something to look forward
to when they're getting out. It's like I'm getting out,
(11:17):
I already have you know, these skills in a job
lined up. That makes it so much less likely that
they're gonna, you know, wind up coming back. But so
they will be doing our full culinary training course, So
that includes a mix of some online training that they
get to do in a classroom there, and then they'll
(11:38):
also'll be doing a lot of hands on training with
our chefs as well to really get all of those
skills down and be ready to join the workforce they leave.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
Yeah, those cutting skills, I cannot exactly to this day.
I could not cut an onion like Gordon Ramsey or
anything like that. And I don't know how seacically.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
You know, when you're doing like one hundred pounds of unions,
you need to be good at it.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
So that's an understand and know how to not cry
while you're in the process. Right. Absolutely, people say, like
kitchen work is grueling work, but it's also like I
mentioned earlier, it is it's productive for sure, it is.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:16):
Yeah, So let's talk Sheriff McDermott really quickly about that
grant you mentioned a couple of minutes ago. Tell us
a bit more about the grant, how you came into it,
and where it came from.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
So you know, we're blessed the the come Off Court,
through the Secretary of Labor and Workforce Development, does provide
grant moneies that are available for workforce development. And you
know we've been, we've been. We always are looking for
pockets of money they're available for us because you know,
we we we set a budget. You know, we get
(12:45):
we get allocated so much money and most of that
goes towards our care and custody. So our programming is
vitally needed, uh to do what we want to do,
so that we depend on the grants that we that
we find and so when we came across the one
we wrote our grant to be awarded to hundred and
twenty thousand dollars to put together a program that that's
(13:07):
a nice chunk of change that we know is going
to go a long way. I like to talk when
I go out to the communities to talk about the value.
You know, there's oftentimes you get a little pushback from people, oh,
you know these are these are better programs, and then
my own kids are getting or I said, you know,
at the end of the day, you know, most of
the men that I'm dealing with come from really tough backgrounds.
(13:30):
Doesn't forgive what they've done necessarily, we don't forget that
they are here for a reason, but we have an
obligation to turn them back into into the communities better
than we've found them. And you know, the two hundred
and twenty thousand dollars of grant money, yes, it's coming
from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts oar taxpayers. It's an investment,
(13:51):
and that that investment will trickle back into a taxpayer
who's going to go back out onto the community, hopefully
either rent or buy a proper property, pay taxes, not
be involved in the criminal justice system. So a two
hundred and twenty thousand dollars grant maybe sound like a
lot of money, and it is a significant grant, and
it's going to provide eighteen men the opportunity that they
(14:14):
never would have received before. But I think that when
you ten x that and the tens of thousands, if
not millions of dollars of results that you're going to get,
make two hundred and twenty thousand dollars an easy sell.
So we're very blessed to have been awarded the grant.
We know that we're going to be held accountable for it,
(14:35):
and that's something I look forward to, being accountable, whether
it's making sure that every penny of that is spent
appropriately and that the investment we make is going to
show a major return.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
I appreciate that you say invest because you're investing in people.
And I think that sometimes when we have these discussions
about people who are behind bars or people who are
justice involved, I think that the stations sometimes when people
are focusing about the tax payers and the money, they
forget that these are people we're talking about. We are
just trying to make sure that as many people are
(15:09):
on the right path, and like you, said, the dividends
they will come because then they get to go home
to their families, They get to expand their families, they
get to contribute to the schools. It's you know those supermarkets.
Speaker 3 (15:19):
They're your neighbors. Yeah, these are folks that are there.
They're coming back and living in your community. You know,
people tend to, you know, look the other way a
little bit when it comes to you know, folks that
are involved in the criminal justice system. But you know,
when you talk to these men, now, like I said,
they've committed crimes and they're paying for those crimes. But
when you actually talk to them and you sit down,
(15:41):
they have the same dreams and aspirations as the rest
of us. You know, they have kids that they need
to take care of, that they want to serve as
an example for. And they realize they've done something wrong
and that they want to turn it around. But they
have obligations, they have dreams, they have aspirations. They want
to go to school, they want to do stuff. And
that's that's a little bit what I try to do
them a little motivation is like, you know, I asked
(16:01):
them what they want to do, what they want to be? Yeah,
you know, and like I said, it's easy to get
your job. I can get a job for anybody tomorrow,
right now, this afternoon. I can get your job pretty
much anywhere that pays minimum wage or just a pretty
decent job. But can I get you a career? Can
I get you something that gets fired up in the morning.
That's a little bit more complicated, but we can do
(16:22):
it through partnerships like this.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
Well, then let's talk really quickly about the foundation, Carly,
how people can help you, how they can support the
foundation's work, and a little bit more about what you're
up to.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
Yeah, I mean, just spreading the word about us, visiting
our website Snapshaft Foundation dot org. We are on like
all the social media's Okay, so just kind of following
what we have going on is amazing, just to kind
of get the word out there. We do want to
keep expanding programming, and obviously, you know, we get grant
(16:54):
these types of grants from the state, but that only
covers so much. So with expanded dollars, we can obviously
expand programming to do more of this type of work
in other communities.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
Okay, And then Sheriff, how can people keep in touch
with you and your office and everything that you're working
on when comes to programming and otherwise.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
Well, these days, like everybody else, social media is the
best place to go to get the state of the
art stuff. I often jokingly say websites are kind of
the fact machines and the beepers of today's update your website.
It takes forever, but social media is the best way.
So if you follow us, we have accounts on you know, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn,
(17:37):
but look up the Norfolk Sheriff's Office, particularly Massachusetts. Don't
be following the Virginia Sheriff No, but find us on
social media and you know, you can certainly go to
our website which is Norfolk Sheriff dot com and you
can check out some of the stuff there. But social
media is the best way to go. Sign up for
our for our updates. You can you shoot us in
(18:00):
email and sign up for stuff and so that people
can be aware, especially those that are just interested in
keeping us accountable. You know that they want to hold
the whether it's you're that hardened taxpayer that wants to
make sure your money's being spent. Well, please sign up
and I guarantee you you'll be impressed.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
Well, Carly and Sheriff McDermott really appreciate your time. This
is such a cool program. Thank you for coming on
the show to tell us all about it and good
luck with it.
Speaker 3 (18:21):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (18:22):
Have a safe and healthy weekend. Please join me again
next week for another edition of the show. I'm Nicole
Davis from WBZ News Radio on iHeartRadio.
From WBZ News Radio in Boston. This is New England Weekend.
Each and every week we come together, we talk about
all the topics important to you and the place where
you live. It is so good to be back with
you again this week. I'm Nicole Davis. In the coming weeks,
more than a dozen men incarcerated at the Norfolk County
Correctional Center. We'll be learning some pretty serious kitchen skills.
(00:28):
Eighteen men in all are getting ready to be the
first group to take part in a new program brought
there through the snap Chef Foundation. Learning how to cook
is important here, but it's not just about that. It's
about teaching discipline, building confidence, and helping these men develop
a sense of purpose while chasing their passions in the
culinary field. Sheriff Patrick McDermott is here to chat with
us about this, and Carly Snopkowski is at the foundation,
(00:50):
so it's good to have you both here. Carly, we'll
begin here by talking about the work you're doing at
the foundation. Tell us a bit about that.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Yeah, So, the snap Chef Foundation is a nonprofit branch
of snap Chef, which is a culinary staffing and placement
company that's been around for over twenty years in New England.
And really the Foundation was born out of a need
for skilled skilled workers in the food service industry. So
(01:18):
Todd and Daniella, the founders of Snap Chef, which again
is a staff and company, We're putting people out into
these shifts, into restaurants, into hospital schools, and these people
were coming and didn't really know how to you know,
chrap vegetables or how to prep these large meals and
so the need for a training program was really evident.
(01:43):
So that's kind of what got them started on the Foundation.
So we provide a comprehensive culinary training program that equip
people with those skills that they need to go out
and be ready for the workforce. In addition to just
those hard skills, we focus on the soft skills as well,
(02:04):
so you know, having your uniform all nice and clean,
showing up on time, your attitude. So we call it
knife skills and life skills. We know both are key
for someone's success.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
Yeah, well, how I'd be curious to know. Obviously a
lot of restaurants closed during the height of the pandemic.
The industry was hit really, really hard. How has the
Foundation been able to make its way through that, and
what do you see now as more and more people
try to get back into the food industry.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
There were a lot of individuals that left, so that
definitely hit our industry extremely hard. What we're seeing now
are new people who maybe weren't in didn't even consider
food service industry before, kind of coming to us now
and being really interested in it. We do staff a
(02:54):
lot of snapshoft staff. Staff's a lot of larger places
like hospitals and schools, so those are always kind of
a steady flow of needing staff. But the restaurants were
definitely hit hard.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
So then let's move over to you, Sheriff McDermott, because
you are working with the foundation to create really a
one of a kind program that I have not seen
before when it comes to helping people who are justice
involved get into a better place before they leave and
after they leave your jurisdiction. So tell us about why
you decided to partner with SNAPSCHEF.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
Well, it all comes with a philosophy really at the
end of the day, and you know, the corrections has
evolved immensely over the last twenty years or so, and
even more rapidly over the last five years, and I
was blessed to be elected as sheriff in twenty twenty,
and you know, we put together a very you know,
comprehensive foundation of where the mission of the Sheriff's Office
(03:54):
should be, and it was based upon four principles of prevention, intervention, education,
and hope. We are more than just a place for
care and custody, although that is what we principally do.
But as I just had a little town hall meeting
in our kitchen actually with some of our workers who
are just as involved individuals, you know, I basically said
(04:15):
to them, you know, the programming that we have offered
here is basically to give you the best opportunity to
succeed post incarceration. I've often joked on all of the
careers that I've had in life, with the exception of
my kitchen career back a thousand years ago, that I've
always tried to put myself out of business, And even
(04:36):
as sheriff, I would love to see the day that
we see a lack of a need for prison systems.
I think that diverse programs that allow for alternate programs
to incarceration are great, and I think when you inspire
individuals to feel as though that they have a better
pathway in life, then you can find a better way
(05:01):
to fix our communities and certainly the crime rate and
the recidivism rate. So there are people that want a
better way. They certainly nobody wants to be incarcerated. And
so the programming that we are being we are offering
now isn't just programming to check the box off. You know,
some guys say, if I take a program, will it
(05:22):
give me an extra good day? And do I qualify
for early release? That's not good enough for me. I
want people to embrace programming that is going to really
transform who they are, why they get up in the morning,
and where they're going to be going with their life
and their career. And a job is great, but a
(05:44):
career is what will propel you to the next thing.
So when we looked into who we want to partner with,
and I believe in the power of partnerships with our
nonprofit community in our private sector, and when we looked
into finding ways we could partner with groups specifically on
how to find jobs for people in this twenty first
century corrections environment. We know that there are jobs in
(06:06):
the hospitality industry, and we wanted to work with people
that are boots on the ground, that know the training
that's required, the discipline that's required, and really the vision
to inspire individuals to fix their current situation. Snapchef kind
of checked all of those boxes off for us, and
(06:29):
we were blessed to have not just their partnership, but
the partnership of our friends at the Secretary of Labor
and Workforce Development and the com with the Massachusetts through
this grant. And so we believe that the Norfolk Sheriff's
Office with snap Chef being able to transform. Right now,
we're designated to basically transform eighteen justice involved men that
(06:53):
will spark something, I think hopefully in their life that
we just like I said the town hall I just
had with seven of the guys, they're not necessarily in
the program yet, but they're all asking about it because
they all know about them. They are all excited, and
I said, this is an opportunity. They talked about their kids,
They talked about being able to find out how one
guy's trying to get into a first time home buyer program.
(07:15):
You don't do that without a job now, right, So
this program is going to transform lives for at least
eighteen people. We're really excited to get this off and
run and we're very blessed to have a partnership with Snapschef.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
And it's not just the eighteen then it's eighteen more
and eighteen more. And like you said, the goal is
to empty the prisons, and that's exactly it. And the
goal is to make sure that everybody has direction. Because
I've spoken with a few other people who work in
the recidivism space and trying to lower that rate, and
a lot of them have said low level offenders oftentimes
are just lost and they're trying to either provide for
(07:49):
their families or their younger people who don't really know
what they should be doing. Maybe they come from a
conflict area that they don't really know how to navigate.
So I too have in a kitchen, So I appreciate
Shriff that you understand and Carly that you get it.
There is a lot of exhausting days, but it also
does require a lot of discipline, but also you get
(08:10):
to be creative and you get to say I did
this with my own two hands, make your own recipes
and make people smile when you see them tasting the
food that you've made. All of those things are just
incredible opportunities for these people.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
It totally aligns with our mission. So empowerments really the
heart of the mission of our foundation. So to empower
those individuals, break down barriers to employment, and just really
build those stronger, you know, people, families and communities. It's
just a win win.
Speaker 3 (08:42):
You're talking about, you know, the recidivium rate and the
low level offenders and that you know, the vast majority
of the folks that are incarcerated at the Sheriff's OVAs
at our level in the houses of correction are those
folks that are that are serving up to two and
a half years in the house of correction. There's no
crime that to me is like theoretically low level. But
(09:04):
you know, we are dealing with a recidivism rate probably
higher in our jails locally because of the fact that
you're sentenced to sometimes thirty sixty one hundred and eighty days.
Not many people are serving two and a half years.
But it's those low offenders that have the highest risk
of recidivating only because sometimes we don't have enough time
(09:27):
to work with them within the jail and they don't
have the skill set in place when they get back
out to the community, and therefore they go back to
what they know, and sometimes what they know isn't necessarily
what makes them productive. So not only are we partnering
with Snapschef on this program and many other other programs
that we have in place, but the formula that we're
(09:49):
working with there is a continuum of care. Even in
the event that somebody starts a program here at the
jail at the Sheriff's Office, no at post incarceration program
that's going to work cooperatively. So our Hope Center and
brainch Tree is something that is building out. We just
opened it in April, and all of our programs are
(10:11):
going to be affiliated with post incarcerated individuals as well
as members of the public who are possibly at risk
of being involved in the criminal justice system. So this
program is really the beginning of what will be a
long term commitment by the Norfolk Sheriff's Office to cut
down on the amount of recidivism, but also just preventing
(10:33):
people from getting involved in the criminal justice system in
the first place because of lack of a job skill,
lack of a career, lack of education. These are the
things that create a safer community and that's what we're committed.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
To for sure. So then Carly tell us a little
bit about when one of these men enters this program,
what are you going to be teaching them? How are
they going to learn about how to develop these skills?
Speaker 2 (10:57):
Right, So, when we were kind of trying to to
develop this program because it is a little bit unique
working with people behind the wall, we're really excited to
be able to start it pre release that way. I
feel like people they just have something to look forward
to when they're getting out. It's like I'm getting out,
(11:17):
I already have you know, these skills in a job
lined up. That makes it so much less likely that
they're gonna, you know, wind up coming back. But so
they will be doing our full culinary training course, So
that includes a mix of some online training that they
get to do in a classroom there, and then they'll
(11:38):
also'll be doing a lot of hands on training with
our chefs as well to really get all of those
skills down and be ready to join the workforce they leave.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
Yeah, those cutting skills, I cannot exactly to this day.
I could not cut an onion like Gordon Ramsey or
anything like that. And I don't know how seacically.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
You know, when you're doing like one hundred pounds of unions,
you need to be good at it.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
So that's an understand and know how to not cry
while you're in the process. Right. Absolutely, people say, like
kitchen work is grueling work, but it's also like I
mentioned earlier, it is it's productive for sure, it is.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:16):
Yeah, So let's talk Sheriff McDermott really quickly about that
grant you mentioned a couple of minutes ago. Tell us
a bit more about the grant, how you came into it,
and where it came from.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
So you know, we're blessed the the come Off Court,
through the Secretary of Labor and Workforce Development, does provide
grant moneies that are available for workforce development. And you
know we've been, we've been. We always are looking for
pockets of money they're available for us because you know,
we we we set a budget. You know, we get
(12:45):
we get allocated so much money and most of that
goes towards our care and custody. So our programming is
vitally needed, uh to do what we want to do,
so that we depend on the grants that we that
we find and so when we came across the one
we wrote our grant to be awarded to hundred and
twenty thousand dollars to put together a program that that's
(13:07):
a nice chunk of change that we know is going
to go a long way. I like to talk when
I go out to the communities to talk about the value.
You know, there's oftentimes you get a little pushback from people, oh,
you know these are these are better programs, and then
my own kids are getting or I said, you know,
at the end of the day, you know, most of
the men that I'm dealing with come from really tough backgrounds.
(13:30):
Doesn't forgive what they've done necessarily, we don't forget that
they are here for a reason, but we have an
obligation to turn them back into into the communities better
than we've found them. And you know, the two hundred
and twenty thousand dollars of grant money, yes, it's coming
from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts oar taxpayers. It's an investment,
(13:51):
and that that investment will trickle back into a taxpayer
who's going to go back out onto the community, hopefully
either rent or buy a proper property, pay taxes, not
be involved in the criminal justice system. So a two
hundred and twenty thousand dollars grant maybe sound like a
lot of money, and it is a significant grant, and
it's going to provide eighteen men the opportunity that they
(14:14):
never would have received before. But I think that when
you ten x that and the tens of thousands, if
not millions of dollars of results that you're going to get,
make two hundred and twenty thousand dollars an easy sell.
So we're very blessed to have been awarded the grant.
We know that we're going to be held accountable for it,
(14:35):
and that's something I look forward to, being accountable, whether
it's making sure that every penny of that is spent
appropriately and that the investment we make is going to
show a major return.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
I appreciate that you say invest because you're investing in people.
And I think that sometimes when we have these discussions
about people who are behind bars or people who are
justice involved, I think that the stations sometimes when people
are focusing about the tax payers and the money, they
forget that these are people we're talking about. We are
just trying to make sure that as many people are
(15:09):
on the right path, and like you, said, the dividends
they will come because then they get to go home
to their families, They get to expand their families, they
get to contribute to the schools. It's you know those supermarkets.
Speaker 3 (15:19):
They're your neighbors. Yeah, these are folks that are there.
They're coming back and living in your community. You know,
people tend to, you know, look the other way a
little bit when it comes to you know, folks that
are involved in the criminal justice system. But you know,
when you talk to these men, now, like I said,
they've committed crimes and they're paying for those crimes. But
when you actually talk to them and you sit down,
(15:41):
they have the same dreams and aspirations as the rest
of us. You know, they have kids that they need
to take care of, that they want to serve as
an example for. And they realize they've done something wrong
and that they want to turn it around. But they
have obligations, they have dreams, they have aspirations. They want
to go to school, they want to do stuff. And
that's that's a little bit what I try to do
them a little motivation is like, you know, I asked
(16:01):
them what they want to do, what they want to be? Yeah,
you know, and like I said, it's easy to get
your job. I can get a job for anybody tomorrow,
right now, this afternoon. I can get your job pretty
much anywhere that pays minimum wage or just a pretty
decent job. But can I get you a career? Can
I get you something that gets fired up in the morning.
That's a little bit more complicated, but we can do
(16:22):
it through partnerships like this.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
Well, then let's talk really quickly about the foundation, Carly,
how people can help you, how they can support the
foundation's work, and a little bit more about what you're
up to.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
Yeah, I mean, just spreading the word about us, visiting
our website Snapshaft Foundation dot org. We are on like
all the social media's Okay, so just kind of following
what we have going on is amazing, just to kind
of get the word out there. We do want to
keep expanding programming, and obviously, you know, we get grant
(16:54):
these types of grants from the state, but that only
covers so much. So with expanded dollars, we can obviously
expand programming to do more of this type of work
in other communities.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
Okay, And then Sheriff, how can people keep in touch
with you and your office and everything that you're working
on when comes to programming and otherwise.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
Well, these days, like everybody else, social media is the
best place to go to get the state of the
art stuff. I often jokingly say websites are kind of
the fact machines and the beepers of today's update your website.
It takes forever, but social media is the best way.
So if you follow us, we have accounts on you know, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn,
(17:37):
but look up the Norfolk Sheriff's Office, particularly Massachusetts. Don't
be following the Virginia Sheriff No, but find us on
social media and you know, you can certainly go to
our website which is Norfolk Sheriff dot com and you
can check out some of the stuff there. But social
media is the best way to go. Sign up for
our for our updates. You can you shoot us in
(18:00):
email and sign up for stuff and so that people
can be aware, especially those that are just interested in
keeping us accountable. You know that they want to hold
the whether it's you're that hardened taxpayer that wants to
make sure your money's being spent. Well, please sign up
and I guarantee you you'll be impressed.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
Well, Carly and Sheriff McDermott really appreciate your time. This
is such a cool program. Thank you for coming on
the show to tell us all about it and good
luck with it.
Speaker 3 (18:21):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (18:22):
Have a safe and healthy weekend. Please join me again
next week for another edition of the show. I'm Nicole
Davis from WBZ News Radio on iHeartRadio.
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