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May 9, 2008

Spreading the word

Prison Entrepreneur Program founder headed to Athens this weekend

By Lauren Ricks

A prisoner outreach program in Houston has extended its reach all over the state. Now the program’s founder wants Athens to know all about it.

Catherine Rohr founded Prisoner Entrepreneur Program in 2004. It’s a program that teaches prisoners business skills, life skills and mentoring.

First Baptist Church of Athens will be hosting the founder of PEP on Sunday, May 11. Rohr will speak at both services.

Erv Jenkins, a member of Friends of PEP, said she will be speaking on the prodigal son parable.

On Saturday evening a dinner sponsored by Friends of PEP and funded by Red Dot will be held to inform local business leaders. Jenkins said 100 business leaders have confirmed their attendance at the dinner.

“She will review the PEP program, the work they are doing, success they are having and the challenges the prison rate poses to taxpayers,” Jenkins said.

The business leaders will be asked to help PEP with financial support and participation.

PEP has developed a network that helps its graduates find jobs, start their own businesses and get loans.

Jenkins said the success of the program is the low number of graduates who return to prison.

“PEP gives them a new suit and new clothes. It helps them when they go to interview for a job. The rate of recidivism is very low,” Jenkins said.

First Baptist Church of Athens Pastor Kyle Henderson said he first heard Rohr speak at a conference in Atlanta called “Catalyst” in September 2007.

“I thought it was so important and compelling, I wanted her to come speak about it,” he said.

The church has since been involved in providing material and emotional support to the graduates.

Fourteen members of the church traveled to Cleveland, Texas, on April 17 for a graduation banquet in honor of graduates of the PEP program that had been paroled. The group helped set up, served the dinner and cleaned up afterward.

The following day they went back for another graduation ceremony at the Cleveland Correctional Center. The group provided support for those who did not have family present.

Jenkins said about 100 family members were present at the graduation ceremony.

“The fact that 100 family members attended the PEP graduation speaks volumes to the fact that family members recognize they have been through a life changing event,” he said.

The church also collected over $5,000 to provide Bibles to the graduates.

Henderson said the congregation was excited to provide the Bibles for them because they wanted them.

“It’s an important investment,” he said.

Effects of program felt in Henderson County

A 27-year-old LaRue resident, Hunter Thompson, was a student and a graduate of PEP. He was born in Dallas and started using heroin when he was 15.

“I was convicted of two counts of aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon in 2003,” Thompson said. “I was feeding my habit.”

He said courts in Dallas and Collin counties were light on him because it was his first offense.

“I was ready to change. A lot of guys want to change but don’t know how. I didn’t have any direction,” he said.

In June 2007 he was sent to the Hamilton Unit in Bryan six months before being released. He said he saw the advertisements for the PEP class.

“It seemed different and interesting. It offered an education,” he said. “We got to work with people from Harvard MBA, Yale, big name colleges. But my favorite part of it was the life skills that Catherine taught.”

“It is not rinky-dink, it is anything but. It is super intensive,” Thompson said.

When he was released in February 2008, he went to work.

“My uncle, Bruce Lietzke, bought a ranch in LaRue. He gave me the perfect opportunity to get out of Dallas, a safe place to go.”

Thompson is the ranch foreman, a job he said requires “doing a little bit of everything.”

He said the program has helped him have integrity, even if he is not accountable to anyone else.

He is working with Rohr on a new business plan and hopes to begin in September or October.

“I am researching starting an outsourced call center for companies, like Verizon,” Thompson said. He said he wants to pursue the venture because there would be many positions to fill.

“I could fill a lot of positions with PEP graduates,” he said. “They are great salesman, they are in prison, they have just been selling the wrong thing.”

He said the PEP Angel’s Investors are “chopping at the bit to give guys like me start up capital.”

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