SERVING USA NEWS
MARCH 2019 ISSUE
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This month we held our 3rd Annual Serving USA Partner Conference. The conference is an opportunity for us to bring together the leadership of all 49 organizations that we financially support and partner with for a time of networking, encouragement, sharing of best practices and teaching/instruction. Due to the growth in numbers and geography of our partner organizations, we had one conference in Sacramento, CA that was attended by leaders from Northern California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Wyoming and Tennessee, and another conference is Los Angeles attended by leaders from Southern California, Texas and Washington. We were very blessed to have Kelly Talamo as our keynote speaker and facilitator for the day. I’d like to pass along one of many written testimonies shared with me after the conferences. I think you will find it as encouraging as I did.
Greg,
We cannot thank you enough for allowing us to participate in yesterday's conference in Los Angeles. What a great opportunity to see old friends, make new ones, and learn ways to improve our ministry's impact. Kelly Talamo was fabulous - funny, engaging, wise and direct. We are returning to work today with concrete steps we can take to deal with the 'Elephants in our Rooms' and have those hard conversations that will benefit all. Can't get any better. We are very grateful to find in Serving USA not only a funding partner, but a full partner in all that we do.
God bless you all!
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Sex trafficking is tragically a California issue, with Orange County being a top county where trafficking occurs.
But we have the opportunity to make a tangible difference in the lives of survivors of sex trafficking.
Join Redeeming Love, on April 26th, for their annual spring gala - a sit-down, multi-course dinner benefiting local survivors.
Proceeds provide housing and therapy for local victims. To purchase tickets and more information, click here.
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April 27th at the Westin Pasadena, the Treasures 9th Annual Gala will be an evening of inspirational stories, entertainment, and opportunities to join Treasures mission in restoring hope to victims of exploitation and trafficking.
Treasures has extended Serving USA email subscribers a discount of buy one, get one 50% off ticket prices!
Purchase your tickets here, and use promo code SERVINGUSA at checkout.
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Defy Ventures
Defy Ventures is a nonprofit organization that provides a holistic career-readiness and entrepreneurial training program to currently and formerly incarcerated men, women, and youth through six affiliates across six states. For nearly a decade, Defy graduates have been defying the odds, with less than 5 percent returning to prison and 143 businesses incorporated. Executive volunteers and mentors from the business community serve as coaches, mentors, and advocates in this transformative program that unlocks the purpose and potential of our participants, whom we call “Entrepreneurs in Training” or “EITs.” Ultimately, Defy is a life-changing door to jobs and entrepreneurial endeavors.
Defy is committed to providing one of America’s largest forgotten communities with their best shot at a second chance, or what many times is a first legitimate chance at legal success. Success for us at Defy means that EITs graduate from Defy’s program with more confidence, a network of advocates, better equipped for the workforce, and better positioned to succeed as entrepreneurs, should they choose to pursue that path. Our work generates value for individuals, communities, and the economy. While economic value creation is hard to quantify because of varied career and entrepreneurial paths, the cost avoidance alone is staggering. In California, for example, the cost to incarcerate an adult is approximately $81,000 per year, and the recidivism rate is 49 percent. For every Defy graduate who remains employed and crime-free, we are saving the state the costs of incarceration, homelessness, and long-term social services, as well as the cost associated with any new crime they might have otherwise committed.
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Defy’s core program is called CEO of Your New Life (CEO YNL), which lays the groundwork for EITs’ personal, career, and entrepreneurial success. After release from prison, graduates of the CEO YNL program are encouraged to join Defy’s post-release programming to support them in finding employment and community; graduates have an opportunity to apply for our small business incubator after they find stable employment and meet other admissions and readiness requirements.
This year, with support from Serving USA, Defy began providing our core CEO YNL program for men and women in transitional settings. Defy’s first class in this setting began in February in partnership with Amity Foundation, a transitional facility in Los Angeles. Defy is also forming a partnership with A New Way of Life (another Serving USA partner organization) to provide the same programming to the women housed in their facility.
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Ian V., one of our recent graduates from our prison program, is now co-facilitating our class at Amity Foundation. He completed the CEO YNL program while incarcerated at Kern Valley State Prison, and said that “the hope and purpose that this program generates is an experience that is unforgettable, and something I have not seen or experienced anywhere else in my 11 years of incarceration.” Ian served as a peer facilitator at Kern, and now is co-facilitating Defy’s program at Amity as a paid Defy staff member. We know Ian’s experience will serve the new class of EITs well!
For 2019, we are working to develop a gender-responsive version of our curriculum to better support incarcerated and reentering women, who are often overlooked within reentry and entrepreneurship programs. Women have become the fastest-growing segment of the incarcerated population and prisons do not provide adequate programming for women, highlighting a need for programs like Defy’s. Finally, we’re actively cultivating employment partners who are willing to give our graduates the fair chance they need upon release and allow them the opportunity to be successful.
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The Bridge
The Bridge is an aptly named transition program in the Monterey area. For people trying to reclaim purpose and structure in their lives, The Bridge is a bridge to help get them there.
Serving USA reported on this partner in late 2017. Building on their strong foundation, The Bridge has some exciting new areas of focus today. They continue to offer a discipleship training program which requires a 12-month commitment to their Christian-based residential facility. The program is designed primarily for men and women with substance abuse issues while also addressing the needs of clients reentering society after a time of incarceration.
The Bridge can accommodate about 20 men in their main house, six women in a second house, and six in their transition house which is available to those who have successfully completed the 12-month program. And The Bridge continues to be a TUMI satellite offering World Impact’s Capstone theology curriculum to interested residents.
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Mike and Michele Casey founded The Bridge in 2006 with a home for men. In 2014 they added a second home for women. To help support the program and provide important job training and experience, The Bridge operates two thrift stores which Michele oversees. The thrift stores give residents the opportunity to develop work skills and contribute to the ongoing needs of The Bridge.
Dan Chisolm is the director of operations and helps oversee the day-to-day needs of the organization. Dan said, “There are two pillars to The Bridge. First, clients are exposed to Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. And, it’s a working program with clients working eight hours a day, Monday through Friday.”
The Bridge also partners with Calvary Church to manage their kitchen which has served as the launching pad for The Bridge’s new culinary program. Former Bridge client Zach Wilson began the program on a part-time basis in 2017 and has ramped it up to full-time in January of this year. Zach trains other clients in the culinary arts and The Bridge is now a frequent caterer to events all around the Monterey area where the organization is held in high regard.
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One of The Bridge’s success stories is LaMount Dunlap, who served 25 years in prison before being released to The Bridge in September 2017. LaMount had TUMI classes in prison and was hoping to continue his studies at a TUMI satellite transition house. Originally, he was disappointed that he wouldn’t be going to The Bridge since, at that time, they were not a TUMI satellite. But, LaMount’s release was delayed a few months and by the time he needed to make a final choice of transition house, The Bridge had become a TUMI satellite.
“God brought me to The Bridge,” LaMount said. “Being surrounded by godly men gave me a strong spiritual foundation.” LaMount has helped facilitate a recovery group at Calvary Chapel called Regeneration which, he says, has helped him grow exponentially. LaMount has said one of the most powerful things he has experienced at The Bridge is the love of Mike and Michele.
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LaMount has thrived. In addition to working in the thrift store, he got a part-time job at UPS. Plus, he has taken coding classes in JavaScript, HTML, and UNIX. He hopes to become a credentialed programmer through the UC system.
LaMount is at the precipice of becoming fully reintegrated into society. He has graduated from the program, purchased a car, and will be moving to southern California where he already has a job lined up. He will be close to the strong, supportive network of loving family members when he gets there. LaMount recognized the need for walking humbly in the discipline of a challenging and loving structured program. Now he is equipped to excel in this next chapter of life. He is leaving The Bridge and ready to cross the next bridge.
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