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| Nonprofit provides hope for Prince George’s inmates |
| By gazette.net |
| Published: 06/27/2012 |
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New ‘Teach ’em to Fish’ incubator plans to turn convicts into entrepreneurs By this fall, Prince George’s County inmates looking for a second chance might have a new avenue to spread their wings. A Largo-based church has created a nonprofit that aims to convert convicts into entrepreneurs after they are released from incarceration. Teach ’em to Fish, a 501(c)(3) created in early June by The Gateway to Wholeness Church Ministries, a nondenominational Christian church, is the new business incubator ministry that is unlike any other, said organization founder the Rev. Clarence Crawford of Largo. He said he and other volunteer church members plan to work with inmates for a roughly 30-month process on developing business skills, from preparing to leave the department of corrections to finding a job, and eventually owning and operating their own enterprise. Once inmates are released from prison, the organization plans on training them to save money, retain a job, build their skills and vision, and eventually own a business by the end of the process. “Our goal is a simple one. The Lord has given us a charge to help the people that nobody else wants,” Crawford said. “We believe he’s instructing us to go to the ones that no one else wants and demonstrate his love by helping them get their lives together.” Crawford, pastor of The Gateway to Wholeness Church Ministries, a small church of about 10 members that formed in 1999, said the nonprofit still is in talks with the county’s department of corrections to formalize a partnership and allow Teach ’em to Fish staff to use correction facilities for the first part of the four-step program. Stephan Simmons, the Department of Corrections’ division chief for program services, said he’s excited to partner with Teach ’em to Fish, and said any time he works with a community organization, it benefits the corrections department, because of the number of vocational classes and programs they can offer to inmates. He added that Teach ’em to Fish likely will start out working with the corrections department’s existing barber class. Read More. |
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