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Washington County moves forward with Community Rebuilding Initiative [Video]
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Washington County moves forward with Community Rebuilding Initiative [Video]

A first-of-its-kind program in Arkansas is moving forward in Washington County. The program aims to address jail overcrowding while helping non-violent offenders get back on their feet. County leaders are planning for the home of the former Crisis Stabilization Unit to soon serve as home of the Community Rebuilding Initiative. A residential facility that would help certain inmates become equipped to succeed in life and not end up back in jail.In just a few short months, the empty rooms inside of the old CSU could once again be occupied. Washington County received more than $355,000 in federal grant money through the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration for a residential substance abuse treatment program. It will focus on rehabilitation, skill development, and community reintegration. For the head of the non-profit prison ministry, Returning Home NWA, being part of the mission is deeply personal. “I ended up serving seven-and-a-half years in prison when I was in Iowa,” chief executive officer Nick Robbins said. “And, I was very blessed that a non-profit came in and started investing in my life. And, shared hope with me that I had never had in my entire life. And ultimately, that gave me a vision of a future of helping other people.”For the time being, only male inmates are eligible. They must be facing non-violent and non-sexual charges. Eligible inmates must also have a bond of $10,000 or less and be willing to follow the program’s rules. Approval from the prosecutor’s office is an additional requirement. “What were seeing is individuals, countless number of times, interacting with law enforcement and going back to our facility,” Washington County Judge Patrick Deakins said. “Im talking we have people that are 100-plus times that have been within our Washington County Detention Center. What that tells us is theres something there thats not working.An initiative of this magnitude requires almost everything you can think of to make it happen, including a fully-functioning kitchen like the one in the proposed facility.”Would you rather be sitting on the floor in the jail or would you rather have opportunities?” Robbins said. “People coming in and investing in you.”Up to thirty-two men can be housed at one time and the length of their stay will vary, depending on the person. The pilot program will run from May until September, although there is the potential to expand it beyond that timeframe.”What this is going to do is its going to give us a lot of data and a lot of ideas about where we go from here,” Deakins said. “What kind of initiatives work and what they dont. This will be the first type of this type of program in the state.”The initiative doesn’t excuse an inmate from sentencing, but it will be determined ahead of time that the sentencing will not involve jail time.”This is basically a sophisticated extension of the county jail and so, the sheriff still oversees this facility,” Deakins said.”I understand the value of it because Ive felt it,” Robbins said.The next major step is the county formally accepting the funding for the project next month. The hope is that the initiative will serve as an example for other counties in the state going forward.

Biden’s loan forgiveness hits 5 million [Video]
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Small Business Funding

Biden’s loan forgiveness hits 5 million [Video]

Despite failing to deliver his promise for broad student loan forgiveness, President Joe Biden has now overseen the cancellation of student loans for more than 5 million Americans more than any other president in U.S. history.In a last-minute action on Monday, the Education Department canceled loans for 150,000 borrowers through programs that existed before Biden took office. His administration expanded those programs and used them to their fullest extent, pressing on with cancellation even after the Supreme Court rejected Biden’s plan for a new forgiveness policy.My Administration has taken historic action to reduce the burden of student debt, hold bad actors accountable, and fight on behalf of students across the country, Biden said in a written statement.In total, the administration says it has waived $183.6 billion in student loans.The wave of cancellation could dry up when President-elect Donald Trump takes office. Trump hasn’t detailed his student loan policies but previously called cancellation vile and illegal. Republicans have fought relentlessly against Biden’s plans, saying cancellation is ultimately shouldered by taxpayers who never attended college or already repaid their loans.Biden loosened rules for debt forgivenessThe latest round of relief mostly comes through a program known as borrower defense, which allows students to get their loans canceled if they’re cheated or misled by their colleges. It was created in 1994 but rarely used until a wave of high-profile for-profit college scandals during the Obama administration.A smaller share of the relief came through a program for borrowers with disabilities and through Public Service Loan Forgiveness, which was created in 2007 and offers to erase all remaining debt for borrowers in a government or nonprofit job who make 10 years of monthly payments.Video below: These states have the highest student loan paymentsMost of Monday’s borrower defense cancellations were for students who attended several defunct colleges owned by Center for Excellence in Higher Education, including CollegeAmerica, Stevens-Henager College, and Independence University. They are based on past findings that the schools lied to prospective students about their employment prospects and the terms of private loans.Before Biden took office, those programs were criticized by advocates who said complex rules made it difficult for borrowers to get relief. The Biden administration loosened some of the rules using its regulatory power, a maneuver that expanded eligibility without going through Congress.As an example, just 7,000 borrowers had gotten their loans canceled through Public Service Loan Forgiveness before the Biden administration took office. Widespread confusion about eligibility, along with errors by loan servicers, resulted in a 99% rejection rate for applicants.Huge numbers of borrowers made years of payments only to find out they were in an ineligible repayment plan. Some were improperly put into forbearance a pause on payments by their loan servicers. Those periods didn’t end up counting toward the 10 years of payments needed for cancellation. The Biden administration temporarily relaxed the eligibility rules during the pandemic and then made it more permanent in 2023. As a result, more than 1 million public servants have now had their balances zeroed out through the program.All those rule changes were meant to be a companion to Biden’s marquee policy for student debt, which proposed up to $20,000 in relief for more than 40 million Americans. But after the Supreme Court blocked the move, the Biden administration shifted its focus to maximizing relief through existing mechanisms. Republicans have called for a different approachAnnouncements of new cancellation became routine, even as conservatives in Congress accused Biden of overstepping his power. Republican states fought off Biden’s later attempts at mass forgiveness, but the smaller batches of relief continued without any major legal challenge.As Republicans take hold of both chambers of Congress and the White House, Biden’s changes could be targeted for a rollback. But it’s unclear how far the next administration will go to tighten the cancellation spigot.Trump proposed eliminating PSLF during his first term in office, but Congress rejected the idea. Project 2025, a blueprint created by the Heritage Foundation for a second Trump term, proposes ending PSLF, and narrowing borrower defense and making repayment plans less generous than existing ones.Republicans have suggested that reversing Biden’s changes will be a priority. Earlier this month, Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., issued a report blasting Biden’s expansion of borrower defense, saying he tried to stretch every possible law to fulfill his campaign promises.When Trump takes office, Foxx wrote, the jig will finally be up.