(bright music) - Hello, and welcome to Journal I'm Steve Kendall.

Assisting adults who are involved in the criminal justice system returned to and live productive lives is a challenge.

In Hancock County an organization is doing just that.

Welcome to a New Life is the organization's name.

Later in the show, we'll be joined by representatives of the criminal justice side of this equation.

But in our first segment, we're joined by Carla Benjamin, the Executive Director, Stan Kujawa, the Board President and Co-Founder of Welcome to a New Life, and Puck Rowe the board Vice President and Co-Founder.

Welcome all of you to Journal this afternoon.

If you would.

Carla, could you tell us a little bit about the mission of Welcome to a New Life?

- Absolutely, thank you so much for having us be a part of this show.

Our program is offering a road to hope.

Our mission is to provide mentorship and resources for those adults who are involved in the criminal justice system, providing them just those resources so that they could live a crime-free drug-free productive life within our community.

- Now, as we talk a little about the mission statement, I know that Stan and Puck your co-founders.

Stan, could you talk about maybe the development, the reasons why this organization came to be and there's a little more of the background about the organization itself, how it evolved?

- Yes, I was personally involved with the jail system going back 20 some years when I had an opportunity, my barber who happened to be the chaplain of the jail gave me the opportunity of coming into the jail and spending time with him at that time.

And also I had in my business have a huge outdoor grill.

So we came in now once or twice a year, and actually cooked hot dogs, hamburgers, and gave the opportunity for the inmates to enjoy a nice meal and saying nothing about the jail meal being bad, but it was an upgrade.

But that was the starting point in my career when it came to that, because it was something that Sheriff Heldman gave us the opportunity to do.

And then we eventually brought in some other members of our community to speak to the inmates as well.

How it really started for Puck and myself.

My good friend here is that I sort of took a semi-retirement to go down to Florida in 2009.

And I came back to Findlay after my wife passing.

And I had an opportunity through my church to possibly go back to the jail as one of their entities that they wanted to help in our community.

This gave us an opportunity to do the same thing, do the same lunches, the same hotdogs, hamburgers, and just things that we did in the past.

But then that was the turning point, as far as I was concerned.

And on that particular day had an individual walk out of the jail.

I saw his bag of clothes and I saw the opportunity and I started asking questions, and the questions were pretty simple.

I asked him if he's leaving and did he have a place to go?

He told me he was homeless.

He had no nowhere to go.

He had no education to speak of.

And so then he left and I looked down the street and I saw a man leaving, and I don't know why I didn't take him to a hotel or somewhere to stay for the evening and maybe go have him take him to a restaurant.

That's when the idea was formed in my mind.

And then I met with this fine gentleman and we spoke about it and we said, "you know what," Puck says, "he says, you might want to do this."

I had a great relationship with Sheriff Heldman over the years.

And so this sort of all came in and we went and formatted our program here as far as creating what we wanted to do for our fine community of Hancock County.

And so I would say that's how it all started.

And now it's blossomed three and a half years later, we got a great board running our foundation, as well as Carla Benjamin, who we hired about a year and a half ago as executive director.

You couldn't find a better person to be an executive director in our program.

- Well, and it's interesting because as you said, here's a person walking out of a jail basically with no prospects at all.

Nowhere to go, no idea what he's going to do, not a good recipe for a successful re-entry into society.

So that's where that triggers.

I was gonna ask you what triggered this particular thing?

Now, Puck talk a little bit about the impact you're having in the community.

Cause obviously this is the mission of the organization is to assist these folks that are coming out of a situation where they've been involved in the criminal justice system.

And now need to be able to make that next step to sort of get back into regular society.

- Well, in my life, I guess I always looked upon the criminal justice system and those who were incarcerated in jail as they made a bad day, probably needed to sleep in that.

But when Stan called me and we talked about this, I had a different impression of what those people were like.

They were human beings.

We all can make mistakes.

Some are major mistakes.

Addiction is a major mistake.

But I did tell Stan that one thing we had to do is make sure this entire community would be behind this.

So we took off for about a year to take our time to develop this.

And we talked to well over 200 individuals one-on-one and we got there 100% approval in this community of Findlay, Ohio, and Hancock County.

They wanted the program, I guess, to see if we could save lives.

And the reward has been unbelievable.

And we got a psychologist as one of our members on our board.

And he explained to us that every human being has to have hope.

And when you run a people in the criminal justice system, incarcerated, some may have a little hope, but not very much.

And the key to our program has been some outstanding, outstanding mentors and the job they've done, they created a relationship and this is one of the most rewarding things in my life, other than my family and my kids and my wife that I have experienced in my life.

It's great to see a human being's life saved.

- And Carla, from your perspective about how many people are you dealing with say today, as we sit here, how many people are you working within Welcome To a New Life?

- Well, we are working right now with 30 individuals who are really wanting to change their life, have gotten a point in their life where enough is enough and they really want that change.

And this is what's so excited about this, is that they are at a point where they are searching for the help.

And we have, as Puck mentioned, wonderful mentors who are coming alongside of them and just giving them that support, that relationship.

And it's wonderful that it's not only for themselves, but also for their families.

We are seeing the breaking of the cycle, giving people an opportunity to make that change.

And it's very impactful to see the families reunited those individuals that are wanting to go back for an education that didn't have one before, we recently had an individual that didn't have his GED, he got his GED.

We have one currently that is utilizing Findlay Digital Academy to get his high school diploma at close to 40 years old.

So we are seeing people that are really changing and really switching that script for themselves and for their family.

Right now we have also 30 mentors.

And so we still need mentors because this is something that's going to be ongoing.

And we know that, but if we could help one, save the one, right?

And that's what we keep on doing is trying to help and save the one.

- Great, very good and I appreciate the information here.

Thank you, Stan and Puck and Carla, we'll be back in just a moment.

Stay with us here on Journal, we're gonna talk to some of the folks who were on the criminal justice side of this package and of course their insight and their input into how this program works and the benefits of it.

So back in just a moment here on The Journal.

Thank you for staying with us here on Journal.

We're talking about Welcome To a New Life.

This is a program in Hancock County that helps people coming out of jail, have a leg up, a new start when they enter back into the regular society.

In our first segment, we talked with some of the folks from that organization.

In this segment, we've got several people who are on the criminal justice side of this, because obviously this is a big part of that.

We're joined by Michael Heldman, the Hancock County Sheriff Robert Ring, the Chief of Police in the City of Findlay, and also Kimberly Switzer who's the director of court services and is also the chief probation officer for adult probation in Hancock County.

It's a nice long title and much appreciated by us.

So we can get started.

I know that one of the things that we talk about, obviously when it comes to the criminal justice system space in jails, always an issue Sheriff Heldman could you talk about maybe how this program is working to help you with that situation.

And obviously cutting into recidivism is obviously means fewer people coming back to your jail.

So talk a little about how Welcome To a New Life is helping you with that.

- Well, one of the struggles we've had in Hancock County has been, even since I've been sheriff for the last 25 years and prior to that was our jail was built in 1989 to hold 98 people.

And we have been struggling over these years with that being at capacity.

And one of the things that Stan Kujawa has worked with us on and talked about along with Jim Woodward, one of our chaplains over the years is our overcrowding issues.

And when Stan came to us and said, "Welcome To a New Life is a program "we want to initiate."

Immediately I listened to it and I thought about some of these things and the ideas.

And I thought it was a tremendous idea to be able to bring some of these people that don't belong incarcerated all the time.

And to me having the right people, meet them at the back door when they are released and take them into their own and lead them to the bank, get them a job, to work with them.

It was an excellent idea.

And we are struggling with other people now that the state of Ohio has changed the sentencing where fourth and fifth degree felonies spend more time in our county jails.

This is an excellent program to relieve some of that pressure.

It used to be that misdemeanants made up 60% of our housing where now it's the other way around felons are taken up 60% and there's less misdemeanors in our jails.

So I applaud them for doing what they have done to bring this program forward because it has released some tension.

- Well, and I know that and I think we referenced it a little bit in the first segment that people believe, okay, you committed a crime.

You should be in jail if that's what the sentence is.

But the reality is as you said, in some cases there's a little flexibility there, so that maybe you don't want to have everybody incarcerated because quite obviously you don't have the space to incarcerate every single person, but the population, the public itself, I mean, are they okay with this kind of a program that it helps people coming out of jail or is there, well, they did the crime tough luck for them.

Do you get any blow back that way at all?

- There's always a certain amount of, certain people still feel lock them up, throw away the key of course.

But there are times when we need to look at people that are not there for a long period of time or the type of crime they've had non-violent crime.

And if you look at what the public reaction to Welcome To a New Life, as far as the funding mechanism we've put in place, they have been coming forward and donating tremendously to our program.

- Yeah, now Chief Ring you're the City of Findlay, obviously a good sized metropolitan jurisdiction.

Talk about the effect on your side of this equation.

You're a part of this from the city's perspective from law enforcement.

- Well, excuse me, a lot of the people that are in the jail are taken there through our department.

So what we'd like to see obviously is when someone makes that mistake and they have to pay the price for it.

But what we want to see is that they learn from it and it doesn't happen again.

You were talking about how does the public feel about it?

This kind of a program helps the public by helping those folks that are coming out of the jail, lead productive lives.

It costs taxpayers money every time someone has to spend time in jail, whether it's a long sentence or a short sentence, you're always paying those fees to incarcerate someone, this type of a program allows them to get out, to get into the workforce, to help pay on their fines, to cut down on the costs of operating the jail and the costs of incarcerating people.

It's just one of those deals where everyone wins around, as long as we picked the right people to partake in the program.

And there's no sense of danger to the community or anything along those lines.

It's people just trying to live a productive life and to get their life turned around.

- Yeah, so the idea being that everybody wins in this scenario.

Kimberly, you're adult probation director of court services, chief adult probation officer in that department, you're acquainted with a lot of the people that are gonna be involved in this program.

So talk about it from that perspective, from the probation side of this.

- Yes, I work for the Hancock County common police court for Judge Starn and Judge Routson, and they sentence various felony offenders to our programs.

And of course, probation departments have notoriously been trying so hard to create these re-entry initiatives, programs to reenter them from prison, from jail.

But our case loads are 50 to a hundred, sometimes up to 200 people.

And we can connect them with those services, but it's pretty cumbersome do so.

We also knew that we apply a lot of evidence-based practices to our program.

We're very scientific in how we dedicate our time and our services to our felony offenders.

So we want to make sure we're doing the right thing as science.

Now that we've got some science in our field, says works and helps reintroduce people successfully.

One of the missing pieces in that spoke in that wheel was always this mentoring component.

Mentors can take them to church or other spiritual initiatives that are important to them.

The separation of church and state doesn't allow our staff to do that.

Mentors can meet with them at night, if they need to our staff with 50 to a hundred to 200 people are definitely working out of the box, but that's a lot to ask of staff that are indebted to working with us that way.

We've won six awards in the community corrections field over the last 25 years for excellence in the field.

So out of a lot of programs in Ohio.

So we're really proud of that, but we've always welcomed programs like this.

When I first met the gentleman, Puck and Stan coming in with this idea, I literally said, verbatim, I've been waiting for this from our community for 30 years.

We knew that this was the missing link to help finalize connection into the community, acceptance by the community.

We can do a lot of that work, but unless people are willing to employ them, willing to take that extra step with them, show them some of the core values and beliefs, those skillsets that maybe we've all been taught that they have yet to learn.

That has always been the missing component.

So we've had some success and we're looking forward to a lot more.

- Yeah, great.

And as I said, you really would not like to see these people ever again.

And for that regard, not in a bad way, but you don't want to see them come back through the system either from the law enforcement side, the criminal justice side or from the probation side.

- [Kimberly] That's correct.

- So Kimberly Switzer, thank you so much, Chief Ring, Sheriff Heldman thank you for information there.

We'll be back in just a moment with more about Welcome to a New Life here on The Journal.

Thank you for staying with us here on Journal, in this segment, we're joined by Carla Benjamin, the Executive Director of Welcome To a New Life.

Also the director of court services, the chief probation officer, adult probation department, Hancock County, Kimberly Switzer, and also Puck Rowe one of the co-founders of Welcome To a New Life.

And Kimberly your challenge obviously is you have folks who are coming out of the criminal justice system, they're on probation.

And I know that one of the things that seems to be happening at least from some people's perspective is your job seems to be getting more difficult in terms of how the state is dealing with the criminal justice system and especially your particular part of it.

So talk a little bit about that and the load that you're now carrying because of that.

- I think it's two-fold.

And I think a lot of communities can relate to this with our various drug pandemics from heroin to now methamphetamines, we went from 300 criminal cases entering our system to now almost 600 cases entering the system.

And then on the back end of that, the state legislature, every time they meet, they come up with other initiatives that felons must stay home.

The courts do not have the option to send them for prison sanctions.

As I think a lot of the public still believes happens.

So that means that our law enforcement are doing the hard work on the streets and see them back on the street the next day on probation, that means the jail is overcrowded.

They release them and they'll see them back on the street the next day for probation.

So that's why these programs are even more important and more meaningful that the courts don't have those options any longer.

And whether you agree with that or not, you would take that up with your state legislatures.

But the important thing is these people are staying home.

They're your neighbors.

They work with you, their kids go to your schools.

These are adult felony offenders that a lot of them are trying to make a change.

A lot of them are afflicted with addiction.

And the ones that are selected for this program certainly are at the place where they're ready to make a change.

They're asking for a change.

So that's why this is essential I think for our communities to stay as successful and affluent as they are.

- Yeah, now when you talk about people who would qualify for this, what's your role in that?

How do you, do you select or you have input into who you believe is ready for this.

How do you handle that?

- Yeah, that's a great question.

And of course, Director Benjamin, we'll talk about some other referral sources, but the probation staff are on the front lines.

They know these people, also they're highly educated and highly trained on working them through the stages of change.

So when someone really is at that point where they're ready for a change in life, they're ready to be accountable, which is a big component in this program.

You're gonna be accountable to not only the courts now, but to a mentor, that personal accountability.

Then we make that referral to the director and then they do their own check and balance on that person.

But we've been key.

We have about 30 people now referred to the program that are active.

That was our last check a few weeks ago.

So both Judges Starn and Routson are happy for us to plug this program in, and see if it helps.

The judges have been really interested to see does that mentor, that warm handoff help make that final connection.

And so far with the right population, it has been important and successful so far.

So it's still young.

It's still early, but our probation officers me especially have been excited to make those referrals.

And they've been passionate people that are very dedicated and are again giving them that warm handoff to get them to the bank, to get them to therapy, to get them to a job, to get them to an interview, to help them dress for the interview.

So the probation officers do a lot of that work, but can only take it so far.

So this program has been very meaningful.

- Yeah, now one of the things that we haven't talked about, and then Puck you can talk about this a little bit is obviously this requires some financial support.

So talk a little about the funding mechanism and the support you've received from the financial side of this from the population and the public.

- Thank you, Steve.

And you are so true, when we formed this thing.

We were talking to all those people.

I mentioned the 200 people.

The last couple we talked to, we met with them because they were community leaders, Duane and Kathy Jebbett.

And we met with them for well over an hour.

And at the end of it, Duane said, "we did our homework, "here's what we're gonna do for you."

They stepped up and gave us a $50,000 matching gift and they gave us three months to match it.

Our budget was about 125,000.

We were able to match that in Findlay and Hancock County.

And we got a hundred thousand dollars.

Since then we've had tremendous support financially from wonderful people from all walks of life.

No matter what it is, it means a lot.

I might mention, we had a breakfast meeting and thanked all the donors and all the criminal justice system, the mentors and the mentees.

And at that spoke we had a Ohio Supreme Court judge, Sharon Kennedy speak, and they were amazed and she was amazed with this program and what it's gonna do in this community and very impressed.

So yes, we're thankful for those who are helping us because to keep this program going and we expect it to go, it takes funding, but we're going to get it.

- Good, and yeah well, on the way to keeping that going.

Carla, one thing we haven't talked about, could you maybe touch on a success story?

Someone who has participated in this and it has made a change in their life.

- Absolutely, we've had several and none of this is possible without wonderful support.

As Kimberly mentioned, we have those collaborations with not only their department, but other nonprofits within our community.

So the collaboration partnerships that we've had has been wonderful and that's what's made some of these success stories even better.

There was one woman and that when we met her, she was pregnant and she was actually on her way to prison.

She could have been sent to prison.

Right now, she has been with our program for a year and a half, is with her daughter and they are doing great.

Is it always easy?

No, this journey is going to be one that's maybe is gonna have some high points and have some low points, but through it all, our mentorship is all about a relationship.

And so the mentors are there to support them and encourage and guide.

And so what we love to see is that she is connected with her family.

She is having those relationships again with her other children.

And so that's what we want to see.

We had another gentleman that again, he would have been one that should be going into the system more than what he is already.

And right now he is working on his education.

He was able to complete his GED, and now he's wanting to continue that journey.

So we've made connections for him to continue doing that.

He is working and he has been drug-free.

And so that is really the impact that we want to make is this, that this program is not only for men, but it's also for women.

And what we're seeing is that there's countless stories of people's lives that are changing.

What I love also is the fact that when we have Chief Ring, Sheriff Heldman and other board members that are part of this, this is showing that the community is behind these people that want to make this change in their life.

And none of this is possible without that.

And the mentorships that we have, it's people that are truly caring that truly want people to feel like that there is hope that there is a chance.

And so what I love seeing also, I say that a lot.

I love seeing this because everything I love is everything about this program.

I believe in it, I'm a result of someone that was given a second chance.

So I know it works.

Mentorship works, it's powerful, and it could last for generations to come.

So this is this is what I love the most.

- Now, we've only got just a few seconds real briefly.

If someone wants to get involved in Welcome To a New Life from the perspectives that we've talked about, what's the simplest way to do it.

- You get ahold of me by reaching out to me, director@welcometonewlife.org You could get ahold of me through our website, welcometonewlife.org And then you could also give us a call.

And I know I'll share that information with you as well.

One of the things that I also wanted to say really quickly is that this is not one of those isolated incidences.

This is something that is meant for our community.

This is something where people could become productive so that they could live, work and play in a healthy way.

And so we are excited about this.

We are excited about what it's going to be doing for many lives to come.

- Steve, if I might add our board is outstanding and every person we ask to be on our board, they represent some part of our community and with responsibility.

We were very well rewarded.

No one turned us down to serve on this board for this organization.

- Great, well it's called Welcome To a New Life.

You can check this out of course, online and get involved.

Obviously, a very important program in Hancock County.

You can check us out at wbgu.org And of course you can watch us every Thursday night at 8:00 PM on the Journal on WBGU-PBS We will see you again, next time.

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