Matthew 16: 13-16
. I got to meet an interesting person who was working for the Oakland County Livingston County Human Services Agency in Pontiac, Michigan. I was introduced to him through our Facility Coordinator, and I found him to be unbelievably talented. He wasn’t just another bureaucrat looking to see where he could get his next promotion. He was honestly looking to find a path for inmates returning to their communities from prison not to reoffend. Towards the end of my career in teaching he had developed a number of opportunities for returning citizens and I was mightily impressed. He was also very well aware of the underpinnings in the department I worked for, and basically could tell me on a regular basis what was happening in our prison education administration. Their ideas, what they believed were successful teaching strategies, and even personal attributes, (or lack of them) of my many bosses. I was informed by him whether I wanted to hear it or not.
.The most striking information I received from him was his knowing that two of our staff members in the school where under investigation, and the outcomes did not look good for either of them. Unfortunately for them, he was absolutely correct, and they were fired. I didn’t want to know how he knew this, but he often amazed me with these types of predictions. He obviously had his sources. What I saw him build over the years was to me pretty incredible. He started with an urban garden in Pontiac, Michigan and we grew the vegetables he would need to sustain it. He even had a rain water collection system which was used for the garden. His garden produce would be used for the Head Start Program. They had their own kitchen and made a variety of items, like kale potato chips, which he said he couldn’t stand but the kids thought was a real treat. He was also in touch with other urban gardeners and I made sure to give him extra vegetable plants for their gardens as well.
.However, what I thought he did amazingly was put together a landscaping crew from returning citizens (ex-convicts) and he serviced some rather large accounts. If that wasn’t enough, he started working on some urban blight, and as the homes were being demolished he saved the lumber. From the lumber he started having returning citizens make furniture as well. They sold the furniture in a store front not far from his office. I believed him to be a genius with a lot of energy. He was involved in so many community activities I didn’t know where he found the time. He enjoyed what he was doing. So, it surprised me when in the first month of the Trump administration, his program was eliminated, and he was laid off. I had heard he was brought back to work a few months later, but not in the same capacity. I never was able to find out about what happened to the enterprises he had created helping ex-convicts, but with his energy, I’m sure he’s doing something positive for the community he serves in. . Prison Stories To Be Continued…
No lyrics Needed.
MJ-Way 