I love data, but data with the power to change lives is the best!"—Dr. Kathy Paulson-Gjerde, Professor of Economics,Butler University's Lacy School of BusinessHistorically, employers have not exactly jumped at the chance to hire those who have been incarcerated. It is true even now, in spite of the facts that we have 100,000 open jobs in Indiana, that we can save about $2 million in taxpayer dollars for every one percent reduction in recidivism, and that recidivism plummets from around 80 percent to 5 percent when these folks are employed.It became pretty clear we would have to provide evidence that justice-involved individuals can make good employees. The anecdotal evidence was already there, but statistical evidence was needed. So along with others, UNITE INDY approached Butler's Lacy School of Business to undertake a landmark study under the auspices of Dr. Kathy Paulson-Gjerde, and after months of effort the findings are in, and the...
We owe our children, the most vulnerable citizens in our society, a life free of violence and fear."—Nelson Mandela I met with Allison Luthe from Martin Luther King Community center a while ago. She told me that two of "her kids" had been killed in gun violence recently. In another shooting, Jordan Jackson a popular wide receiver on the Lawrence North High School football team was shot and killed. He was 17 and had 23 catches for 541 yards and four touchdowns last season. Since then 10 more people have been killed—if I counted right. It's hard to keep up.In every death there is a family that is in pain and a neighborhood that feels more violated and abandoned. Too often, these are young people who have promise and potential that will never be developed. Gone.There is a great picture of a little girl holding a sign that says: "don't shoot, I want to grow up." Thing is, anyone who is tuned into this situation knows, the shooters are not j...
Every form of refuge has its price"—The Eagles' Don Henley and Glenn FreyEvery so often there are lyrics that take on a meaning of their own. In 1975, The Eagles released "Lyin' Eyes" which contained a sentence that jumped out of the music and into the thought process of a generation.You didn't have to be alive in '75 to know it's true, there is a price to pay, no matter where we stake a claim. Sometimes the value of this refuge is so great we gladly pay it. Other times we realize we have leaned our proverbial "ladder against the wrong building" and found the price is too high.In the mid '60's President Lyndon Johnson reacted to overwhelming pressure to create a War on Crime. By the mid '70s mass incarceration was in full swing. For those who wanted law and order, this form of refuge provided an answer to their fears of danger in the streets. But the ensuing mass incarceration claimed a heavy price that cost us then and continues to cos...
Dying is easy, living is harder"—George Washington in HamiltonFULL DISCLOSURE: We have zero proof that the real President George Washington actually said those words, but his character in the Broadway show Hamilton definitely did. Either way, the statement is provocative.The world has changed since 1776. Maybe it's the quickness of a handgun vs. the awkward effort it took to get a muzzle loader ready to fire. Back in Washington's day, men settled their problems with a duel. Duels were about honor and a small bullet at approximately 100 feet. If anyone died, says one expert, it was usually by accident.Instead of a split-second decision, it took a day or two to organize a duel, so people had time to cool off. Back then, serious killing seemed to require a bigger idea, like fighting for independence, or at least bagging a turkey to feed the family.We live in dangerous times, where some young men routinely carry weapons along with an attitu...
Poverty is not just a lack of money, poverty is not having the capability to realize one's full potential as a human being"—Amartya SenAmartya Sen was born in India in 1933 and lived through an economic downturn that cost the lives of three million of India's poor. This staggering loss of life led him to study what came to be called "welfare economics." After studying at the finest schools in the world, he eventually became a Harvard professor and earned a Nobel Prize in Economics for his work on behalf of those in poverty.Sen was a vigorous defender of political freedom and found through his studies that—more than anything else—good old economic growth was necessary to improve the lives of people in poverty. In his 1983 book citing his in-depth studies, Sen reported that declining wages, growing unemployment, inflation and the resulting price increases are the issues that expand poverty. No surprise there, but against popular thought, ...
A few months ago I was hopeless, sitting in my cell, thinking how I'd wasted the last 33 years.Now every time I turn around there are these men telling me Jesus loves me, and He's got a plan for my life…"—Name withheldThere's no guarantee that a prison or jail sentence will produce a person who is ready to turn his life around. But for many, the need to become a productive working member of society is like a mustard seed planted in fertile ground.In prison, their dissatisfaction is deep. They long to have another chance at a normal life, but fear they will fail. But the dream of normalcy, of family, of children who are proud of them grows. These are the people we are working with through Jobs for Life.With a recidivism rate of more than 40 percent, and a cost to taxpayers estimated at more than $20,000 to incarcerate one person in Indiana for one year, it makes business sense to rehabilitate people and keep them from returning to prison...
I'll do whatever you need."—Doug EvansTo all those working in the mission field, a statement like Doug's is a dream come true. An unqualified sentence like that is so rarely heard, when he said it, it stopped me in my tracks. For a split second I had to pause as I considered the gift he could be to our work at UNITE INDY.Doug is retired. For more than 40 years he worked as a teacher inside prisons as an employee of the Indiana Department of Correction. With our work to help reentrants find employment, reconnect positively with family, and reduce recidivism, his experience is more valuable than gold. He knows how to relate to incarcerated people. He knows the program. He knows the possibilities and recognizes limitations, and although he loved working with these men, he always felt something important was missing…something we could provide.In his years teaching as an employee of the State, he always felt the need to bring a faith perspec...
I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant."—Martin Luther King, Jr.Martin Luther King Jr. was not merely eloquent, but with words that emanated from his deep belief in the promises of God, he issued forth words as powerful as cannon blasts, filled with compelling messages of hope that urged others to action.This quote is from his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech in 1964. But only one year earlier he had been arrested and placed in solitary confinement for taking part in the Birmingham Campaign against racial segregation. Alone in a narrow, dark cell, his attorney visited and brought him a newspaper that shocked him. Religious leaders in the area—black religious leaders—had condemned his nonviolent demonstration.Frustrated and weary, he found a pen and began scribbling a response in the margins of the newspaper arti...
We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience."-Pierre Teilhard de ChardinAbout 100 years ago, a young monk by the name of Pierre Teilhard was suffering from what today we call post traumatic stress disorder. Like most young men in Europe, he had been swept into the butchery of WWI. His job was to gather up the wounded and the remains of fallen soldiers—a job that left him broken. On a leave from the front, he took vows as a monk and became a Jesuit. By the end of the war, the French government was making good on its promise to take ownership of all religious properties. The Jesuits were exiled to Great Britain.Teilhard's life was not a series of ups and downs as much as a series of continuous downs. Before the war, he had studied paleontology, embracing the concept of Darwinian evolution. Now, as a Jesuit, his writings to reconcile religion with Darwin were rejected by the chur...
When you attack poverty you attack racism; when you just attack racism, you're still stuck with poverty."-Greg EnasGreg Enas is no stranger to the effort of improving lives. As a PhD in Biostatistics, he was trained in researching questions in medicine and biology to improve pubic health. His working life is all about turning data into knowledge in his work as a strategic planner.But Greg sees a broader picture when he addresses public health here in Indianapolis. He sees kids who are hungry, mothers who can't pay the rent, and men who need jobs and can't support their families. Poverty affects everything. From the health and well-being of the family to the increase in crime and the overwhelming hopelessness and high unemployment of entire neighborhoods.Racism is an insidious infection that has been around for far too long. Why would we accept that? There may always be haters, but if we attack poverty we can help those who have been mos...
