.After all the craziness with the contraband and the need to change my curriculum away from the distribution of house plants, I took new inspiration from a woman I met at a correctional teacher’s conference in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Her name was Elanor Jositis and I could identify with her struggle to bring opportunity to a community so lacking of it. What I admired the most was her efforts to bring vocational training to an area marked by civil unrest. She was a key note speaker at the conference and she made the Correctional Teachers and Instructors feel appreciated. She spoke highly of her students who had come to Focus Hope from being incarcerated. She felt many of them where prepared having their GED’s and/or vocational certifications. Her staff found them willing and motivated and she thanked us for that. It was a breath of fresh air hearing her say that. Before Mrs. Jositis spoke, we were berated by another key note speaker for not doing enough to prepare our students for the world once they left the prison system. It was nice to hear that someone felt we were making a difference. Especially a leader in the community whose organization was known for providing vocational training and employment for a population lacking the opportunity.
.I began to steer my students who would be paroling to the city to Focus Hope. I was trained to give the General Education Development exams. and to those students receiving their GED’s, if they were paroling to the city, I would direct them to contact Focus Hope. I had a list of apprenticeships for the skilled trades to offer my students, but I always felt that they were capable of becoming skilled machinists. If they could divide an eight ball of cocaine, (many of them being in the drug trade), they could read a micrometer and blue prints. Focus Hope would provide the training and the students would have to show motivation by learning the material then applying it. Focus Hope has state of the art equipment and a genuine environment for training adult learners. I became a conduit for my students to seek them out if they were returning to the city. The demand for good machinists was strong and Focus Hope’s reputation was well known in the manufacturing sector for producing them.
.I would reconnect with Focus Hope on a regular basis. Myself and a colleague would make the trip on an annual basis to visit. The staff were always welcoming and would provide us an update of their latest’s technologies. They were also expanding and included a new child care center and food pantry for their students. After the demise of the house plant business at the prison, it was a welcome relief to hear of the successes this organization was making in the city with our returning citizens. I would be approached on a regular basis by my students or their friends to make copies of the flyers and pamphlets published by Focus Hope which hung in my classroom. I was told over the years of my students who had found success there and became machinists. I was eternally grateful when I had heard this and continue to this day to support this organization. In the world we live today this organization and its’ message is ever the more relevant. I was glad to help my students reconnect with their community through Focus Hope. It was also a new way for me to reconnect with the community having given up on the house plant business. I was refreshed in a sense, and would look for even more opportunities for my students to display their skills. TO BE CONTINUED…
Isaiah 9: 1-3, Mathew 4: 12-17
MJ-Way 