Can we count on you?

Posted: May 22, 2013 in PEP Donors
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
0
Progress towards securing the $100K match as of 5-22-2013

Progress towards securing the $100K match as of 5-22-2013

You value the work that we are doing at PEP. And since we know that you want us to be successful, we need your help.

Can we count on you for a $10 donation?

Here is some incentive:

Every dollar that you donate before July 19, 2013 will be MATCHED one-to-one (up to $100K). So if you can donate $10 to PEP, our board will donate another $10 — doubling your impact.

Some ways that your funds could change lives:

  • $10 could provide a new Toastmasters book to a man entering our next Business Plan Competition class, helping him to make 120+ presentations of his pitch in front of others;
  • $25 …  financial literacy curriculum / textbook to teach him  how to manage his money after release;
  • $100 … college-level entrepreneurship textbook to teach him how to open his own business after release;
  • $250 … “Fresh Start Kit” that includes a suit, work clothes, toiletries, an executive portfolio for interviews and everything that he needs to get his life re-stabilized after release from prison;
  • $500 … eSchool bonus to reimburse him for investing in his business after earning his second diploma from PEP
  • $1,500 … fully sponsors an incarcerated participant’s quest for their college Certificate in Entrepreneurship from Baylor University through PEP

To see who has already donated, please visit http://pep2013.causevox.com/

 

Guest Blogger: Guillermo Mendoza (“15 years Lost”)

Posted: May 21, 2013 in Guest Blogger, Inspiration, Testimonials
Tags: , , , , , , ,
3

The following speech was delivered by PEP volunteer Guillermo Mendoza at a Toastmaster meeting, and he generously shared it with us to publish here.

Guillermo Mendoza houston

PEP volunteer and mentor Guillermo Mendoza of Houston, TX

What would you do if 15 years of your life disappeared? What would you do if those years were from when you were 18 years old to when you were 33 years old?

Madam Toastmasters, fellow toastmasters and honored guests good morning!
Close your eyes and imagine for a moment what happened in your life from 18 to 33 years old.

I met Johnny F. in a graduation party, this particular group he belonged to was graduating from a night school program where for 5 months they learned about finances, business, plans, goals and how to survive and be successful in a world that changed without them during the 10 to 15 years on average they spent in prison.

I was at that graduation because I had been invited to be Johnny’s mentor and I met with him the following week.

I said “Johnny before we start working I need to know what happened? What’s your story? What was the big mistake?”

Johnny said “I was young and stupid, a friend, a bad friend asked me to help him to go and scare somebody, when we were scaring this person things got out of control, my friend pulled out a gun and shot him, I was in shock and surprised but that did not prevent me from jumping to this person and ask him: are you ok? He was not, but he survived, in his statement he declared that I was not armed, that I did not shoot him and that actually I tried to help him, but that did not help my case, the prosecution based on the guilty by association law stated in my report that I was armed, that I pulled out a gun and I shot him, I was shocked when I read it, it was an exact copy of the report in my friend’s file, but they were entitled to do that. I was sentenced to 15 years; today I feel I am an 18-year-old young man in a 33-year-old body, I feel my life was on hold for 15 years. I have the same aspirations and desires, I wanted my first car, I wanted my first job, I wanted to go to college, and to find a nice woman to start a family some day. I am starting again”

After being released on January 17th , 2012 Johnny went to a transition house, he got a job within the first week and he rode his bike almost 20 miles every day for 6 months until he saved enough money to buy his first car, he then was promoted and started attending the University of Houston to pursue his bachelors in business administration degree.

He saved money again to get his second car, he did not sell his first car he gave it to his 63 year old mother in San Antonio to help her move more safely in a bad neighborhood he didn’t like her to walk in those streets. His mother left his father when he was 4 years old, he was never present in his life.

Johnny is the client that pays me less money, actually he does not pay me at all, but he is the one paying me the highest in satisfaction and results.

He is disciplined with his time and his money, when I asked him what are we going to work with? How is life? He said life is good I have my first job, I have my first car, I am in college, I go to church, I do exercise I met a young woman I like. I said then what is the next step how do I help you?, he said I guess we can work on my business plan to start a weekend business.

Wash away is the name he picked for his mobile carwash pressure cleaning service, it is not only a business plan, he is already ahead of the game and got 2 used pressure washers while he is working on his business plan.

Johnny has no time to lose he realizes that those 15 years gave him a lot of perspective but no opportunity to work on tangible results and now he is working on getting them.

My speech today had to be a dramatic one, I don’t know if this is dramatic enough, but if you want dramatic just pull out any of the files in the Prison Entrepreneurship Program: difficult childhoods, abuse, violence, bad decisions and big mistakes but also new committed disciplined men, working hard to finally get the life they always deserved.

Johnny this speech is for you I am so proud of you I am very glad that you are rebuilding your life and it is a real pleasure to work with men like you.

Madam Toastmaster…

PEP Graduates Inspire 150 Middle Schoolers

Posted: May 17, 2013 in About PEP, Driving Values, Servant Leadership
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
0
Scott W PEP

Scott sharing his story

One of PEP’s 10 Driving Values is Servant Leadership. We believe that the success of our program is not achieved at graduation, but is lived out through the lives of our graduates every single day after they are released.

Recently, several of our past participants were able to demonstrate this principle to a group of 150 eighth graders at Hogg Middle School in Houston, Texas. The group included PEP’s Patrick McGee as well a graduates Scott Wesley and Greg P. These three men spoke to these middle school students about what led them into prison and how their lives have changed since they were released.

You can see photos from the event here:
http://prisonentrepreneurshipprogram.zenfolio.com/p733190842

PEP Grads seeking employment in Houston and in Dallas

Posted: May 16, 2013 in PEP Works
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
0

Hire PEP GraduatesSince May of 2010, every single PEP graduate who has worked with our re-entry team has found a job within 90 days of release from prison. By contrast, the average ex-offender has a nearly 40% unemployment rate after 12 months … yet 100% of PEP’s graduates are employed in the first three months.

In fact, the average time “from prison to paycheck” is only 24 days. Most of our graduates land a job within their first month!

How do we do this? With your help!

PEP supporters provide valuable introductions to prospective employers as well as endorsements for our graduates. If you would like to see the graduates who are now seeking employment, please visit our “PEP Works” page:
http://iwasinprison.com/pep-workforce/

Here are the current graduates seeking employment. For information on any of these gentlemen (including their resumes), contact Greg Moore in Houston at GMoore@PEP.org or Gami Jasso in Dallas at GJasso@PEP.org.

Houston

Russell F.

  • RELEASED: 4/22/2013/
  • SEEKING: Has been working side jobs since his release, but needs something full time.
  • EXPERIENCE: Past experience has been mostly hands-on type work in  residential construction as general laborer, but has also done Mig welding for a company building trailers.

Phillip C.

  • RELEASED: 5/1/2013
  • SEEKING: Looking for fulltime warehouse work, but willing to work with his hands in other areas.
  • EXPERIENCE: Primary experience before incarceration was warehouse work for Target and J.C.Penny’s. Knows how to operate a forklift and bucket lift.  Also worked at an airport on the runway crew.

Derek C.

  • RELEASED: 3/25/13
  • SEEKING: Looking for a full-time entry level position in a warehouse or office setting where he could develop new skills.
  • EXPERIENCE: 21 years old and doesn’t have much work experience other than retail customer experience and some sales. Also types 40+ wpm and has basic computer skills.

Dallas

Thomas R.

  • RELEASED: 5/10/2013
  • SEEKING: Full time Printing, Warehouse or call center
  • EXPERIENCE: 15yrs in Printing, 5yrs shipping and receiving inventory control; 6 months call center  40 +wpm.

PEP recruiters pack the hall for sold-out Pitch Day!

Posted: May 15, 2013 in About PEP, PEP Events, Pitch Day
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
0

WOW!

The only thing better than having our friends join us in prison is when they bring their own friends to meet PEP. This Friday, Class “Noble Nineteen” will have one of the largest audiences in PEP’s history to join them for their Pitch Day … more than 80 executives have registered to attend the event, and we are officially sold out!

Special thanks to the following people who have agreed to host “Shark Tank” panels for us, and bring their friends:

  • Tamirra Phillipe (recruited 7 guests);
  • Jon Goodale (5 guests);
  • Robert Horan (4 guests);
  • Hank Hamilton (4 guests);
  • Ken Dunham (3 guests);
  • David Jenkins (3 guests). 

It’s going to be an incredible day.

If you are not able to join us, please consider registering to attend our Class 19 Graduation on Friday, June 7 from 2:00 – 5:00 p.m. More details here.

SEE YOU IN PRISON!

(Below are photos from the Class 18 Pitch Day last year)

This Week in Prison: Pitch Day!

Posted: May 13, 2013 in About PEP
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
1
Class 18 Pitch Day

See photos from last class’ Pitch Day

Last week in prison, our participants had a busy week that included our CEO Bert Smith delivering a lecture on Investments, a test on the Human Resources Management chapter from ”Entrepreneurship: A Small Business Approach,” a continuation of their prior discussions on the Harvard MBA Case Study on Enron led by our Governing Board Chairman Mike Humphrey and another section of the Employment Workshop.

The latter is focused on helping them to find a job and build a career once they are released; while nearly 30% of our graduates eventually start their own business, almost all of them focus on finding a job as soon as they are released. We believe that our entrepreneurship boot camp is a strong preparation for their careers, since many will end up working in a small business for an entrepreneur. Our graduates’ understanding of what it takes to build and grow a successful small business makes them stand out as employees, which is why 100% of our recent graduates have landed a job within 90 days of release from prison.

This week, our participants will continue the Employment Workshop inside the prison. They also have their first tests over Part 1 & Part 2 of their reading of “Crime and Punishment“ by the Russian author Fyodor Dostoyevsky. This week, we also have two courses on World History that our men will complete in addition to their regular work with Toastmasters, Men’s Life and Leadership Development.

But the apex of the week arrives on Friday, when nearly 70 business leaders will join us in prison to for the Class 19 Pitch Day! Participants deliver their business plan presentations as a practice session before the Business Plan Competition. We tell our judges to “Get ready to be impressed!”

Our executive volunteers will ask tough questions and provide feedback that will prepare these men to make the final improvements in their business plans before the finals on June 7!

See photos from last class’s Pitch Day at http://prisonentrepreneurshipprogram.zenfolio.com/p480337130

All of this preparation culminates on June 6 and 7, when PEP launches its 19th Business Plan Competition in prison.

Learn more about these events here.

See you in prison!

A Decade Without a Single Friend

Posted: May 10, 2013 in About PEP
Tags: , , , , , ,
0

participants MLK quoteLast week, we shared the results of our graduate survey with our Dallas Advisory Board.

We showed them some impressive results — like the fact that 30% of our graduates have pursued their own business, and that 89% of those businesses are still open. We also quickly mentioned that 92% of our graduates kept in touch with at least one other person from PEP regularly.

Before we could move on, one of our advisors stopped us. ”Wait a minute, repeat that???”

The staff looked at each other for a minute. We then described how, among the hundreds of men surveyed, only a handful said they did not keep in touch with anyone they met in the program.

This particular advisor was floored. While he is a successful entrepreneur today, he was once a prison inmate himself (before PEP existed). He shared that he spent around a decade locked up, but had not heard from a single person whom he knew in prison in the nearly 20 years since his release.

“You don’t make friends in prison. Allies, maybe, but not friends. If you guys are telling me that almost all of your graduates are staying in touch with someone from the program …. that’s … that’s just amazing.”

——

Just one more way that PEP is transforming prison, thanks to your support!

Take a stand for PEP

Posted: May 9, 2013 in About PEP, Inspiration
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
0

PEP Prison Entrepreneurship Program logo for Web

PEP stands for something far larger than “Prison Entrepreneurship Program.”

PEP stands for the belief that no life is beyond redemption.

PEP stands for the belief that there is tremendous talent behind bars, and that our country will be better served by harnessing that human capital than by squandering it.

PEP stands for the belief that entrepreneurship has the power to not just build businesses, but to change lives.

And most importantly, PEP stands for the belief that a country as great as ours should not have the largest prison population in the world.

Take a stand: SHARE this post with others.

Jeff Smith to keynote Class 19 graduation

Posted: May 7, 2013 in About PEP, Graduation, PEP Events
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
1

Big news! National speaker Jeff Smith will deliver the keynote address for our Class 19 graduation. (If you would like to join us for free, click here)

As he shares in his TED talk (below), Jeff has a very intimate understanding of the need that PEP is addressing in the prison system.

Jeff Smith is Assistant Professor of Politics and Advocacy in the New School’s Urban Policy graduate program, a consultant on affordable housing policy and prison reform, and a frequent public speaker on ethics in politics. Jeff served in the Missouri Senate from 2006-2009 as the nation’s only white state senator from a black-majority district. He is a columnist for City and State and a contributor to The Recovering Politician, a popular new blog for former legislators. He has appeared on CBS, CNN, MSNBC, and Current, and has been profiled by NPR’s “This American Life,” Harper’s, The New Republic, and several other periodicals. He recently gave a TED talk (see here) on prison entrepreneurship, and has published op-ed pieces for CNN, The Atlantic, Salon, Inc., National Journal, Salon, Politico, New York Magazine, Buzzfeed, the Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, Washington Examiner, and St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Guest Blogger: Michael J. Gilbert

Posted: May 7, 2013 in About PEP, Guest Blogger
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
0
Notes for Michael G

Notecards sent to this volunteer

The following was posted this morning by one of our volunteer executives, Michael J. Gilbert (founder of Street Level Apps):

I sit here this morning with tears in my eyes, humbled yet happy.

My normal routine is to gather my mail at the end of the day and read it first thing over breakfast. Normally I throw out the junk mail without even looking inside.

I opened a large envelope that seemed like junk mail, however this was hand addressed (note to marketers). Inside were thank you letters from students in the Prison Entrepreneur Program. These men are truly grateful that someone gives a damn, someone that took time out of their day not just to say ‘I care” but to guide them in the right direction; in life and business.

Some time ago I volunteered to help edit business plans and attend “Sales Pitch Day”, inside the prison at the Cleveland Correctional Center north of Houston., Texas.

It’s humbling to see the transformation of a man, especially one so drastic. You take a man and especially young men that have done nothing but spend their lives in and out of jails and prisons, that have never had any opportunities in his life, no guidance or a mentor and put him in the right situation, offer him an opportunity to better himself along with guidance and the real man emerges. It reminds me of Eddie Murphy in “Changing Places”.

“We offer a ‘mini MBA’ program within the Texas prison system that transforms inmates into entrepreneurs,” said Bert Smith, CEO of the Prison Entrepreneurship Program (PEP). Through the program, the inmates also develop complete business plans for a real venture that they can pursue after release.

I think all too often we become so immersed in our own lives we fail to realize there are people hurting but wanting help but we step right over them in our pursuit of own goals and aspirations.

The fact is, I thought I was the one that was going to ‘go down and teach these boys a thing or two.” What truly happen was my own transformation. I came home humbled and reminded that we are all in this together. I was also reminded of the vision that started over 10 years ago and one that is coming to fruition as I write this. (Stay tuned).

I can tell you I will not lie on my death bed wishing I had worked one more hour, or made one more dollar, or closed one more deal. Although I do love what I do I also will not lie on that bed with regrets. The second half of my life is dedicated to helping those that need our help the most. (Read Bob Buford’s “Half Time: From Success to Significance”)

Won’t you join me? Become a volunteer forwww.PEP.org. Or join another charity that benefits society as a whole. Get involved in the lives of others and your own problems will soon disappear. When we focus on others, that’s where true joy and happiness is found.

During PEP’s Business Plan Competition these inmates pitch their business plans to more than 50 “free world” executives, entrepreneurs and MBA students who attend PEP’s in-prison events.

Over 9 years, over 1,000 men have graduated from PEP. Over 95% continue to be contributing citizens of society. That’s the complete opposite of the national average of recidivism. PEP continues to carry on a great program as Baylor University has now Certified the PEP Program. http://www.baylor.edu/mediacommunications/news.php?action=story&story=127526

Older Entries