Jim McGreevey
The New Jersey Reentry Corporation (NJRC) seeks to provide Second Chances to persons returning from state prison, county jail, addiction treatment, and combat. NJRC provides critically needed services, such as license restoration, legal services, linkage to addiction treatment and healthcare, enrollment in state and federal benefits, and training and employment. These comprehensive services seek to provide court-involved persons with an opportunity to address their various needs and place them on the path of healthy living and recovery.
One of the most central messages of the Gospel is the message of a Second Chance. Indeed, the very person of Jesus Christ shows us the meaning and importance of Second Chances. Jesus, the Son of God and the Second Person of the Trinity, is incarnated and becomes man, so that He may redeem us and bring us back to Himself through the sacrifice of His Crucifixion. Jesus' incarnation and His Passion is His bestowal of a Second Chance to humanity. The parable of the Prodigal Son puts the notion of redemption and Second Chances into higher focus and teaches us the lesson of how God views us and approaches us, namely as His beloved children.
The "Our Father" speaks of "forgiving our trespasses, just as we forgive those who trespass against us." In many respects, a Second Chance is an act of forgiveness. Jesus calls each of us to then give Second Chances to all persons with whom we interact. The Christina life may be seen integrally in terms of Second Chances received and Second Chances given.
Jim McGreevey serves as the Executive Director of the New Jersey Reentry Corporation, which provides critically needed services to assist persons returning from incarceration to successfully reintegrate into society. Those services include the integration of addiction treatment, sober housing, employment and training, identification and legal services, and linkage to Medicaid and medical and behavioral healthcare for formerly incarcerated persons.
The NJRC has ten reentry sites, which are Elizabeth, Hackensack, Jersey City, Kearny (Community Resource Center and The Governor’s Reentry Training and Employment Center), Neptune, New Brunswick, Newark, Paterson, and Toms River. The clients of the NJRC have a19.7 percent recidivism rate, 10 percent incarceration rate, and annualized rate of employment between 58 percent and 62 percent (seasonally adjusted).
He also worked with the women of the Integrity House Program at the Hudson County Correctional Center in New Jersey. He guided and directed the Integrity House initiative's spiritual counseling, as well as counseled the women upon discharge.
Having pursued seminary education and training at the General Theological Seminary, Jim served his field education working with formerly incarcerated women and men at Exodus Transitional Ministry in Harlem, New York City. He completed his pastoral care at the former Cabrini hospice and long-term healthcare center. Jim previously served as New Jersey Governor, State Senator, State Assemblyman, and over ten years as Mayor of Woodbridge, one of New Jersey’s largest municipalities. He also served as Regional Manager, Merck and Company; as Executive Director, NJ State Parole Board; with the NJ Assembly Majority Office; and as Assistant Prosecutor in Middlesex County.
McGreevey received his bachelor’s degree from Columbia College at Columbia University in 1978. He graduated from Georgetown University with a law degree and was admitted to the bar in 1981. He holds a Master’s of Education from Harvard University and a Master’s of Divinity from the General Theological Seminary.