Here in the south, where I'm at and among the politicians, among the different nonprofit organizations and community organization, there is a disconnection and there is a lack of support, there's a lack of unity. It's a great deal of prestige representation, but not a genuine care for returning citizens
Deborah Pardes
@DBPardes · 0:49
Hey, Martin, I just started a conversation yesterday with Major who is part of the Creative Acts organization and he is someone who's on the outside now, but when he was in, he was experiencing great benevolence from this organization and started working with them when he got out. And now he's also running a program in Inglewood, California that gives people housing and there's about 100 beds and he'll tell more about that
Martin Smith
@citizensofhope · 5:00
We also, through our training program, we seek to foster community inter involvement by reconnecting participants with their communities to improve the environment. Through our personal Environment Development training, participants must apply themselves and follow the steps in order to benefit from this training successfully. Since COVID we've been hit hard. A lot of people have moved. They had to redirect their lives and careers and support and volunteer and everything in other directions. So presently, we're working on the support that we need
Swell Team
@Swell · 0:15
Major Bunton
@Major_cause · 3:43
I think it's critical, the moment that they step out of those behind those walls into the world, to have someone who understands them, who knows the difficulties of the journey, setbacks of the journey, but also knowing that change is possible and how we process living in this world. Just listening to all the services that you guys are creating, you guys have definitely allow our citizens to feel more comfortable than ever. But as I know, I'm sure you know, funding is always like that
Deborah Pardes
@DBPardes · 0:45
You, Major. Thanks for coming in on this conversation. You and Martin have a lot, a lot of common values, from mentoring to really implementing ideas and making changes in people's lives. I look forward to more stories here, more conversation and maybe even some more difficult conversations that need to be had around how do we change this that are not working for reentry and what are those systems?
Martin Smith
@citizensofhope · 4:50
I started my cleaning service as a means to help returning citizens to have some way to make some kind of income in order to provide for their families. When it was impossible, it seemed to be even to get a job. So it was good hearing from you. It's good hearing from you, Ms. Deborah. Thank you. And I look forward to the conversations that are in the near, near future. Thank you. You have a good night