A Changed Life
Ten years ago, as a recently released ex-offender, Antoine
Bennett did not expect to be on a panel with former Vice
President Al Gore at Tufts University talking about youth
development. But, that’s what happened. The story of how he got
there and became a community leader testifies to how reentry can
work and a community strengthened as a result -- all at a
considerable cost-savings to taxpayers. Of the fifteen friends
(clique) that Antoine hung out with as a youth on the West Side
of Baltimore, he is the only one that is not dead or
incarcerated. What made the difference? Antoine credits EDEN
Jobs and its network of community resources. Indeed, Antoine
says, “I can honestly say that if there had not been an EDEN
Jobs, I probably would have been the fifteenth dead of my
clique.” Growing up in
Sandtown “the penitentiary from
elementary” is more than just a lyric of a popular hip-hop song.
Instead, it is too often a sad reality. In Antoine’s case he was
18 and a high-school dropout when he went to prison. When he
came out three years later, he knew he didn’t want to go back,
but he didn’t know how to go forward.
“Thankfully,” as Antoine puts it, “1 found out about EDEN Jobs
and my life has been transformed as a result. I was not just a
number or a ‘cause.’ I was a neighbor who needed help.” In terms
of employment services, EDEN provided an in depth one-on-one
assessment and a multi-tier, competency based (“learn and earn”)
strategy for employment and career advancement. The first tier
included a couple weeks of general job readiness training, a
subsidized placement with YouthBuild (a youth apprenticeship
program), and weekly job readiness training sessions with EDEN
staff over a 4- month period that stressed goal setting,
workplace rules, building a positive work history, and
networking for career advancement. YouthBuild provided key
technical skills in carpentry, college prep classes, and
leadership training, which Antoine credits for instilling in him
the drive to become a role model for his community. After 18
months, Antoine graduated with a carpentry certification - for
the first time in his life completing something he started.
By working with EDEN prior to his graduation, Antoine had also
secured a full-time, non-subsidized position with a community
health organization — the second tier to “learning and earning.”
For the first time Antoine had health benefits, a sense of
worth, a position of respect in the community, and a key mentor
on the job who assisted, along with EDEN staff, with career
planning and further skill development. This training in turn
led to a promotion in pay and position to become the health
center’s Financial Counselor in charge of billing and payment.
At this point, Antoine could have moved just about anywhere and
taken a couple different career paths that would have left his
neighbors and community behind. But, Antoine chose to remain in
Sandtown and dedicate himself to work force development and
community transformation. He became a homeowner through Sandtown
Habitat, and an employment specialist with EDEN Jobs.
Within 4 years Antoine had taken over as director of EDEN Jobs
and become a community and national spokesperson on issues of
youth development and offender workforce development issues. He
is also a basketball coach at a local middle school, a community
organizer, and on a variety of community boards. He sees himself
as just a neighbor now giving back and doing the right thing.
His message to youth is “stay in school, get your education and
don’t be misled by quick money schemes or an apparent easy road.
Instead become a role model and a productive member of your
community. Well done always beats well said.” For young fathers,
Antoine stresses that “it is more important for fathers to be
present in children’s lives than to buy expensive gifts.” For
those that choose, as he initially did, a more troubled path,
Antoine and EDEN Jobs provide a vision for how things can be
different and a helping hand in making it so.
Antoine’s story is one example of how EDEN is changing lives and
going the distance, outlasting in many cases government
programs. In the past year, local, state, and regional
governments have decided to do something about the growing
challenge of prisoner reentry. But, as Antoine can tell you,
EDEN has quietly and steadfastly been there all along. And,
hopefully for taxpayers and the community, EDEN will continue to
be there for some time to come. For each ex-offender that EDEN
helps to make a successful transition, the state saves a minimum
of $25,000 — the annual cost of incarceration. This does not
take into account the cost savings to the community, city, and
state of the crimes committed by an ex-offender that is returned
to prison.
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