By CAROLINE HUDSON

For the Washington Daily News

Washington residents who are at risk of committing a crime or have already been charged are getting another shot in life with Project Second Chance.

Kimberly Grimes, crime prevention and community outreach manager at the Washington Police Department, said the program is for kids and adults and focuses on smaller crimes, such as marijuana and prescription drug charges and larceny.

Project Second Chance is meant to be another avenue for offenders besides prison and provides tutoring, weekly meetings, call-ins and anger management classes through Dream Provider Care Services.

“I sit down to find what the need is individually,” Grimes said. “This program is free.  There is no restitution.”

She said she thinks the need for the program increased in recent years as residents faced a struggling economy and turned to other negative outlets.

“It’s a work in progress,” Grimes said. “(The program is) one of the ways we’re addressing it.”

But she said while a person may have made a bad decision in life, she doesn’t think that makes them a bad person altogether.

Besides the work the program does with offenders, it also has a focus on taking preventative measures before a crime is committed and creating a better relationship between the police and residents, Grimes said.

She said an example of this is an event where officers and firefighters interact with kids in the community by handing out goodie bags and teaching them how to prepare for dangerous situations.

“We wanted them to see that police officers are not always there for negative situations,” she said.

Project Second Chance was originally called Project Next Step, and the idea was taken from a similar program in High Point.

The program began in 2009, and under new leadership in 2012, it became Project Second Chance with a new focus on preventative measures and community involvement.

“We are still trying to be creative,” Grimes said.

She said the program, which won an Award of Excellence at the North Carolina Governor’s Crime Commission Safe Communities Conference in 2010, has received positive feedback from the community and is inspiring similar programs in other cities.

“That’s our goal. That’s our target,” Grimes said. “I feel like I’m making a contribution to my community.”