est. May, 2004

The principle measure of success for prisoner re-entry programs is the recidivism rate (the rate at which prisoners return to prison for any reason). PEP only works with Texas prisoners. While Texas has a recidivism rate of 28.3% (2001) and the U.S. has a recidivism rate of 67.5% (1994) for prisoners who left prison within a 3 year period, PEP’s is about 5% . PEP works inside prison where they are to a large degree not wanted, and have extreme accountability requirements from the prison. Here are the stats:

PEP RESULTS (AS OF JULY 1, 2008)

Total graduates: 370
Recidivism rate: less than 5% (Measured since the program’s inception for all participants who graduate PEP’s inside program, regardless of their participation in the free world.)

Employment rate: more than 97% of graduates are employed within four weeks of release
Average number of days to gain employment: 22
Average starting wage: $10.51 per hour
Number of businesses started: 43

Executive volunteers: 1,000+
MBA volunteers: 400+ from 22 MBA programs
PEP lifetime cost per head: $13K
National average annual cost for incarceration: $21K

A little more context: Another prisoner re-entry program, InnerChange achieved a rate of about 8% for prisoners released within a 2 year period. As I have done more research, almost all re-entry programs will cite statistics only for prisoners who complete their programs. It isn’t unreasonable for these programs to put a large number of prisoners through a strict interview process, and after only a percentage get in, have only 40 to 50% actually complete the program. So, most programs are not working with “lost causes”. One other point to consider is: typical protocol for releasing prisoners is not very tough to improve upon - it is atrocious. I am somewhat surprised the recidivism rate isn’t 80 or 90% nationally.

In spite of all the wrong implications one could take from the data , context and caveats - PEP outperforms almost all re-entry programs and does something that no other re-entry program does: rather than seeing inmates as a societal problem to be solved, it literally sees them as opportunities. It recognizes many prisoner’s potential to be ridiculously successful legal entrepreneurs. This isn’t as much a reformation program as it is a “reach full potential” program. This is why, this program comes out on top. Just start thinking of the added benefits: Prison entrepreneurs are much more likely to hire other prisoners from all those other workforce development prisoner re-entry programs. A reasonable venture capital model could result in PEP becoming 100% financed by PEP graduates. Etc. In fact I predict within 15 years time PEP will become self-sustaining with thousands of prisoners not only off the taxpayers’ bill but private “outside” funders’ bill as well. Former inmates funding responsible, profitable, PERMANENT re-entry - I think it can be done.

Once again, I hope you will forgive me for copy/pasting text; this time from PEP’s website: www.prisonentrepeneurship.org (Why try to write something that’s going to be worse?):

PEP’s team recognizes that prison is a storehouse of untapped potential. Many inmates come to prison as seasoned entrepreneurs who happened to run illegitimate businesses. For the truly reformed prisoners, once equipped with education and life skills training, the ROI potential for these men, their families and communities is limitless.

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From today onward, for as long as I post to PosiPeople I will dedicate each post to one of the most effective entrepreneurs I am able to find providing direct-services to the poor and needy.

At times I will highlight organizations based simply on a recommendation from an individual who’s opinion I highly respect, other times I will base my reasons for highlighting an entrepreneur on overwhelming evidence. Whether my post is highly subjective or objective - each program will embody natural, timeless principles like: liberty, opportunity, faith, character, hope, personal responsibility and charity.

Charity has largely and falsely come to mean: the mindless giving of money. I hope to help restore it to its original and truer meaning. If you can imagine what an all wise, loving mother feels for her child, you then have a good idea of what charity is. It isn’t something you give, it is something you posses.

In my old line of work as a manufacturing engineer it was almost unforgivable to make the same mistake twice. Nothing destroyed our image of competence faster than repeating a gross error. Continually giving money away without making a conscious effort to place that money where it will have the greatest positive impact is synonymous with making the same mistake over and over again. If an individual is not confident that their money is being given to the most effective organizations within the areas they care about, then they should stop giving until they are.

There is a significant amount of organization-level research that exists, but it is scattered across the world wide web, and I imagine even more so across personal computers and intranets. In order to identify the most effective entrepreneurs providing direct services to the poor and needy I will need to begin identifying and aggregating links to all the third-party organizations providing rigorous organization-level evaluations on organization effectiveness. Both those organizations who make their evaluations public and those that don’t.

Here’s the beginning of a list :
www.cachildwelfareclearinghouse.org
ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc
www.wsipp.wa.gov
www.calvinedwardscompany.com
www.genevaglobal.com
newprofit.org
www.ashoka.org

The more in-depth, professional evaluations we can amass, the more confident we can be that we have truly identified the most effective organizations serving the poor and needy. I hope you will add more links in your comments.

I will highlight the first high performing organization next week.

I know that Al Gore is in the press frequently, but I can’t resist writing a blog post about him because he is the spokesperson for the current mainstream environmental movement to fight climate change. We all know that he starred in the movie “An Inconvenient Truth”, but did you also know that he wrote a book under the same name upon which the movie is based?

In addition to writing and starring in “An Inconvenient Truth”, Al Gore was a former congressman who served in the House of Representatives and the Senate, and served as the Vice President of the United States for the Clinton Administration. But that is not all! Mr. Gore is also co-founder and chairman of Generation Investment Management and Current.tv, is a member of the Board of Directors of Apple, Incorporated, is a senior advisor to Google, is a partner in Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (a highly respected Venture Capital firm in Silicon Valley), and is a visiting professor at Middle Tennessee State University. Let’s not forget that he also was a co-winner of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for “efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change.”

Whew, talk about a looonnnnggggg list of accomplishments. If only he would have ran in the current United States Presidential election, then he could add President of the United States to his list of accomplishments.

But, why write all of this?

I write this because Al Gore is the spokesperson of the current mainstream environmental movement to fight climate change and I long for society to awaken and recognize a someone as the spokesperson for humanitarian issues (such as ending poverty).

I suppose you could say that Bill Gates, Bono, or Muhammad Yunnus could be nominated for this role, but society has not given humanitarian issues the level of attention that environmental issues receive. Who would you nominate for the spokesperson of humanitarian issues and what needs to happen for society to give humanitarian issues the attention it deserves?

Often, we imagine artists as tortured souls, living alone in dark garrets wearing utterly ridiculous, foppish clothing and pouring their pain onto canvases or notebook pages or piano keys, trading sorrow for artistic genius. As an active member of a number of artistic communities, I can pretty confidently say that big sleeves or intense depression are not requirements for the creation of great art. In fact, some of the most beautiful works I’ve ever seen have come from perfectly emotionally healthy people or even groups of people.

Take, for example, the incredible glass sculpture of modern master Dale Chihuly. I was fortunate enough to attend the opening weekend of his new exhibit at the De Young museum in San Francisco, where I was immediately struck by the sheer number of beautiful pieces being shown. This was more impressive, however, because I supplemented my viewing by watching the accompanying documentary about the process of creating these masterpieces. Here’s what I find exciting about glassblowing a la Dale Chihuly- it’s a team affair. For each enormous bubble or floral creation, there is a team of men and women who take part, putting the piece in the “glory hole,” or lengthening the molten glass by whirling it around over their head, or even catching the completed piece and putting it safely in the cooler. Chihuly’s work would prove literally impossible without the help of each member of his highly-skilled team of artisans.

So if I may, the message here is two-fold:

1. Support the arts. Check out a glass exhibition, go to the symphony, attend a play- there are so many fantastic art resources across the country- who knows what you’ll find in your town. Art is always the product of its community in one way or another, and local artistic endeavors truly only survive because of the patronage of people like you. I promise you’ll be pleasantly surprised by how satisfying it can be.

2. Be sure to find out when the museums in your community are free. This might sound strange, but most major museums are free about once a month (often as a result of the sponsorship of a company like Target, the business that sponsored the free Chihuly opening weekend). Why not go to that art museum you’ve always wondered about? It only takes a few minutes or a quick phone call to figure this out, and the reward is enormous.

What are you waiting for? Go forth and enjoy. Actually, first check out some work by Chihuly at www.chihuly.com. But then find the Chihuly in your town, and take some time to appreciate the beauty mere humans can create.

“The wealth of nations is no longer stuff in
the ground; the wealth of nations resides in
the human mind, in human creativity.”
– George Weigel

The Fourth Annual Tyburn Lecture, May 2004, “The Free And Virtuous Society:”

There are few messages that are more positive than the message above. It is a concept that has been said in many different ways by many people. Although Saudi Arabia and other oil rich countries are getting a “free ride” at the moment, as have many nations who have built the majority of their wealth from resource extraction, times are changing. The more and more I read and listen to experts’ words on the topic of resource scarcity, the more and more I become convinced that the central solution is productivity out pacing inflation. The solution to productivity has always been breakthrough innovation, and the source of breakthrough innovation has always been the human mind. This applies even in resource extraction.

Other than building strong individual character, the greatest cause that anybody can advocate is this:
Increase the percentage of innovative for-profit entrepreneurs. Why? because this creates a more competitive environment which results in more creative destruction which leads to higher productivity which leads to a higher quality of life for all citizens.

I have thought about whether or not I could make this claim for some time now, and have tried to “break it”, but I have found that the claim is unbreakable.

Several us of have been following Randy Pausch since we heard (or heard about) his final lecture at Carnegie Mellon. In the May 3, 2008 Wall Street Journal, Jeff Zaslow, Randy Pausch’s co-author on a new book called The Last Lecture, tells the story about how he met Randy and how they wrote the book together. According to traditional media, some people have been critical of the authors for “exploiting the situation” by writing this book, I disagree. Watch the lecture (or read an excerpt from the book) before you decide.