I find in my life serving others is a basic necessity of life. I am a convicted felon that served 22 years in the Tx. Dept. of Cor. I was released in February of 2018 and I have now been out for over five years. During my first ten days of freedom, I was homeless wandering the street of downtown Houston TX. trying to understand the world I had not been in for over two decades. I was lost and scared, worried that I would have to steal food to just survive. I was thrust into this system of homeless shelters that were deplorable, almost without regard for humanity. I was asking myself if this was what I wanted; to be free. I can remember at around 3 am laying on a concrete bench in weather below 32 freezing in only a thin button-down shirt and dress pants, trying to sleep after walking aimlessly for 13 hours. Telling God, If this is what my life is going to be then I'm going back to prison in the morning. I woke up finally after getting a few hours of rest and the first thing I saw was the wristband I had been given the previous day from a nonprofit group called 7More Ministries. I called the number and explained my situation. Someone came, assisted me, and gave me a few dollars to get hygiene, food, shoes, a wallet, socks, and undergarments. Took me to my first homeless shelter and their phone number for emergencies. I survived, I worked and managed a halfway house next door to Houston Community College for a few months and then moved to another facility and started a new job. I worked for Refined Technologies a second-chance employer for over a year. I don't think I would have been able to hold a job without their continued understanding. After 13 months, I signed up for college. I found myself sitting in class at Houston Community College's central campus looking at the halfway house I used to live in and manage. After my first semester and a 3.8 GPA, getting a housing choice voucher and food stamps. I moved out of the halfway house and into my first apartment. Today, I have completed my A.S. in Psychology with the Highest Honors and walked across the stage for a degree with a 3.8 GPA. I am in my second year at the University of Houston Downtown for my B.A. in Industrial/Organizational Psychology with a minor in social interactions. I have been out of prison for over five years. I am a success story with a testimony, that was only achieved through the assistance of others and faith. It is the most impactful part of my life, history, and success. The importance of assisting others is an integral aspect of our humanity that piece of the fabric that holds societies together. It is such an important part of my life now that I volunteer now every Monday at the downtown Houston bus station meeting returning citizens from the TDCJ on their first day home. I am now employed by the same facility where I once lived. I am a life coach, facilitator, mentor, intake manager and friend. I have dedicated my life to the assistance and helping of others who come into my community just like I did those short few years ago. Helping others is the past that makes me human...

I consider myself a leader in my sector through experience and the ability to listen. I am in the reentry sector in Harris, County TX. I was incarcerated for 22 years and was released on February 2018, I have now been out for over five years, and during these past five years, I have learned the most necessary I believe above all others. LOVE, which is a commodity in short demand within the prison community. I have achieved my A.S.S. in Psychology at Houston Community College with the highest of honors and a GPA of 3.8. I spent 10-16 hours a day at my desk with a cheap laptop in a halfway house teaching myself Math, Biology, and Microsoft office suite. I had previously never made a spreadsheet, slideshow, or Word document. I had to teach myself because my professors could not comprehend that I had never seen these programs before and they could not afford the time to explain in detail step, by step how to do these menial tasks, and there was no one in the halfway house with any education beyond grade school. I did it, and I did it well, I overcame these barriers and walls, and I have been successful in transitioning back into society I have championed my testimony into an exemplary means to assist other returning citizens back into my community and to be able to sustain themselves permanently. I am currently a part-time student at UofH downtown and obtaining my B.A. in Psychology to better assist my clients and my community with outreach and networking abilities. It is not so much being a true definition of a leader but being able to guide successfully, so I would consider myself a guide more than a leader. I had the very graceful opportunity to acquaint myself with a few very successful and gracious people who had the perseverance to give me grace and love. Without it, I doubt I would have survived this transition, as I was homeless and living in the streets for the first ten days of my freedom. My refusal to remain this way, and to find a determination to find through any means necessary to survive, become stoic in success, and turn victimization into a winning mindset has allowed me to become a leader and guide in my community. I now take my achievements and I champion that all men coming home can accomplish these tasks. All they need is a guide with time, patients, and love to assist them and have faith in them and lift them. Even if it's at 2 in the morning and they can not sleep because they are scared of failing again, and they see their lives flashing again and they think that prison is around the corner again. It takes leaders and guides from all walks of life to give everything that is their essence to assist and guide these men and women. I would say that leaders and people who can guide others do not come from perfection, they come from failure, loss, and miscalculation and they become stronger. I would say that a leader is never through learning or growing, and is never complete, but becomes more complete with every success that he/she gives someone else.

As a recovering addict and ex-convict, who has experienced these debilitating effects of drug use personally, I will use my education to help facilitate freedom of addictive personality. I currently am a Psychology major, who works for a nonprofit serving the reentry community in facilitating the emergence of institutionalized men from prison into society over time and space. The increments that are sometimes hindered are a direct result of childhood trauma that resulted in drug use. This is not just an independent issue, it is complex and multi aspected and it has to be by design how to incorporate a successful transition for each person on a independent basis. I am a Psychology major for this purpose, to grow within the realm of Psychiatric understanding of the mental forces that not only drive the men we serve, but how they affected me in a personal manner. Having the understanding on a personal level will assist me in the fundamentals of achieving a higher success rate in a complete transition for other that I serve. Fighting recidivism is not an easy job, and is not for everyone to engage. I havw walked this journey pesonally after serving a 22 year sentence, and found success very difficult to achieve much less find at times. I found many obstacles that littered my path amd mmany people who made life harder than necessary too. My goal is to facilitate this for as many men as possible and to fight this beast called recividism into a background that does not hover over the men we serve like a heavy rain cloud that seems to never retreat. Finding that plateau that is a meeting of not only mental support but financial growth for them to be sucessfully on their own, living a full life, having the fundamental aspects of a high self esteem are achievable if the right circumstances are present. I wish and desire to be part of this journey for other men such as myself to find that place in life where they nolonger feel like an outsider, or condemed constantly for past mistakes and can begin to grow exponentially. To objectivly find ability to alter their beliefs and understanding of the world and how they fit in it and find productivity as a way of life. To find reassurance that they are someone that is worthy of freedom and a second chance at a life that can be fulfilling in everyway that holds meaning.

I was incarcerated at the age of 21, and I was released at the age of 43. I served 22 years in the Texas Department of Corrections and upon my release, I was homeless and slept the first ten days on the streets of Houston, Tx. After ten days I found a place to live and started working in their second-hand. retail shop called the "Mustard Seed". After 5 months I moved to another facility called "Crosswalk Center" for reentry. I was provided with the opportunity to gain employment and worked at this job at one of the most inclusive, forgiving, and loyal companies I have ever had the chance to be employed by. I worked and saved for 13 months, bought a car, and then decided to attend school. I enrolled at HCC in Houston TX. and after changing my degree three times chose Psychology and finished with an A.S. in Psychology with highest honors, and I am now enrolled at the University Of Houston Downtown in a Masters's degree plan for I.O. Psychology. I learned from my personal experience that even though we as a species are often found lacking and then find ourselves in the most difficult of places, there is a fortitude that exists in no other animal. Having personally fought internal battles with my behaviors and having the mental capacity to be aware of my thoughts and actions that are a direct result of decision-making has taught me how to live a better life. Knowing that I as an individual control everything that is within myself and that understanding has served me well. No longer do I react to others and no longer do I allow emotions to dictate how I respond to a stressful situation. Yes, I went to prison, but no I did not allow this to create a mental prison that will keep me locked up after release and freedom. I gained some very unique abilities in control and self-awareness while incarcerated I use these abilities now, and daily to navigate life and its many challenges. I am a story of sacrifice, dedication, and ultimately success after prison.

I have chosen psychology as my career path. I'm a convicted felon who was incarcerated for 22 years, and my reentry into society was extremely difficult due to institutionalization. I struggled with understanding the trauma and issues that almost debilitated my life. Seeking out the understanding of my behavior and gaining a perspective and degree of knowledge from the psychological aspects of development has given me ability to learn productive life skills. I have chosen my field for the purpose of attaining the credentials that will give me access to assist in the process of reentry in my home city of Houston. There is an average of 17k men and women released from prison every year. Of this average 63% return in the first year. The average percentile increases the following year. With the understanding that this is a problem and there is a huge gap in funding and resources motivates me as an individual to become involved and make an impact in this critical situation in every community across America. I seek change in the stratification and discrimination that a conviction holds over a lifetime, and creates further damage psychologically and further propagates the criminal cycle.

My current life goals are to find a way to complete a four-year degree and find a place in the re-entry community in Harris County, TX. in assisting the 17,000 men and women returning from incarceration to smoothly transition back into society. There are many residual psychological pathologies that are enhanced from incarceration and these persons returning need mental health assistance in many cases. Being a returning citizen myself I understand all too well the trauma involved. I was lucky to find my current employer Crosswalk LLC, and develop over time into the individual now who mentors, coaches and volunteer's his time in the transition for men and women who have served anywhere from months to 40 years in the Dept. of Criminal Justice. There is a huge gap in the re-entry community for support and I wish to fill that gap in any way possible. This will allow me one of the most important elements in searching for life "Fulfillment". I have for the first time as an adult built some of the best relationships with friends, and coworkers. Although it was as challenging as anything else I face walked through in my return to society, my social skills were almost non-existent and I had to learn to understand social cues and when and when not to react or initiate.