IT'S A SECRET....
We're Cooking Something Up
That Will Change Everything!
On September 25th UNITE INDY is making a big announcement! But you, our loyal readers, supporters, volunteers, and friends will get the news FIRST! So watch your emails and hold on to your hats, change is coming and it's going to be big! How big do you think it will be?
BIGGER than that! 10 days....and counting!
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INDIANA FSSA's
Dept. Of Mental Health And Addiction's Top Brass Meet To Help Reentrants
Close to 60% of incarcerated people have an undiagnosed or untreated mental disorder, and 80% suffer from alcohol or drug abuse issues.* To support this special group of reentrants, folks from Indiana FSSA's Department of Mental Health and Addiction (DMHA) are working with UNITE INDY to secure employment longevity with the help of transportation services to and from work. Formerly imprisoned people (FIPs) are assisted with getting the addiction and mental health support they need, and help to find a job that provides structure, income, and reduces the stress caused by lack of financial means. Daily transportation services help them keep the jobs they depend on and further reduce stress that can so easily torpedo their future success. When connected with support agencies and an income, FIPs have the best possible chance to never again see the inside of a jail or prison. It was great meeting with these selfless public servants who really show they care!
Pictured L to R: UI's Nancy Cotterill, Scott Whiting, Employer Partner Park 100 Foods' Ian Cox, UI's Molly Oliver, Sherry Jackson. Our guests from FSSA's Department of Mental Health and Addiction Recovery Works Team are L to R: Clinical Coordinator, Aseisah Barton, Clinical Director, Alexandrea Pharms, and Program Director, Catrinka Prestly.
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JIM OBVIOUSLY NEEDS A HAT:
These Friends Are Collaborating To Better Prepare Reentrants For Jobs & Life
These guys go back a few years...Gene Potter and the men he trains in construction work renovated the pretty horrible building UNITE INDY purchased to house our work. (They did a great job!) Ken Johnson, former Colts Chaplain and Jim met in bible study many years ago and it was "bro" at first sight.
These men and the notably younger Nathaniel Jones who works with Ken got together to find ways to better help folks who are navigating the difficult road of reentry.
Emerging Eagles is Ken Johnson's prison ministry focusing on younger individuals. Gene’s New Life Development Ministries works to train reentrants in construction trades. People are different, and need different options as they re-enter society. It is always a joy to meet with these men, and we've got some big plans!
Pictured L to R: Founder of New Life Development Ministries' Eugene Potter, Founder of Emerging Eagles' Ken Johnson, UI's Jim Cotterill, and Nathaniel Jones, also with Emerging Eagles.
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WORKING TOGETHER:
Job Training, Van Transportation for Partners at Purposeful Design & More
UNITE INDY's Scott Whiting, Doug Evans, and Molly Oliver met with Purposeful Design's Advance! school director, Maggie Poplin to discuss ways we can work together to supply needed transportation for employer partners, as well as the development of an effort to make reentrants from the Marion County Adult Detention Center more aware of jobs and programs at Purposeful Design. Every year, Advance! trains 350 students whose lives have been broken by addiction or homelessness to equip them with valuable work skills leading to employment.
Pictured L to R: Purposeful Design's Advance! Director, Maggie Poplin, UI's Marion County Adult Detention Center Reentry Room Site Leader, Doug Evans, and Marion County Reentry Tranportation Manager, Molly Oliver. Not pictured is UI's Executive V. P., Scott Whiting.
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DOING GOOD:
Breaking Down Barriers to Success For Volumod Employee Reentrants
Volumod is not your run of the mill manufacturing company. One of its goals is to increase employment on Indianapolis’s east side, where jobs were sorely needed. Another is to build homes with good-sized floor plans and quality finishes at an affordable price. But from UNITE INDY’s perspective, their greatest goal is to give people who have made a mistake and served sentences the chance to become good employees with a solid future.
Now Volumod is working with UNITE INDY’s Transportation Manager, Molly Oliver, to provide van transportation beginning in November for employees who have recently been released from incarceration. Volumod, like every other employer, needs people who will show up when the work day starts. Van transportation for reentrants removes the number one barrier to keeping a job, which is lack of affordable and reliable transportation. Thanks to Volumod for all you do for the community and for reentrants!
Pictured from Left: Craig Rak with Commute with Enteprise, Volumod's Director of HR, Jill Clark, and UNITE INDY's Marion County Reentry Transportation Manager Molly Oliver
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WATCH OUT:
Social Media Is Fueling Youth Homicides:
Up 91% Since 2014
Parents and police here and across the country are concerned about the growing ties between social media and youth homicides. Mothers are literally buying bus tickets to get a son or daughter out of town. When someone is gunning for your 15-year-old, a trip to grandma in Des Moines seems like a timely decision, one that can save a child’s life.
Just connect the dots. In many cases the victim in a shooting was previously warned or threatened on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, and others. According to one recent study, there has been a 91% increase in homicides among 15- to 19-year-olds between 2014 and 2021. An increase that far exceeds the overall rise in homicides over that period. You’d have to be blind or have the last name of Zuckerberg to deny that one of the most volatile violence-accelerants today is social media. (My apologies to any Zuckerbergs not related to FaceBook & Instagram, but this has got to stop.) Read Nancy's Post Here!
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Why Support UNITE INDY?
Our major focus is to assist the 12,000 inmates returning to Central Indiana after long-term jail sentences. UNITE INDY provides mentored job training inside the jail, and a website for those with a criminal record, SecondChanceIndy.com, filled with job openings offered by our Second Chance employer partners.
These jobs are powerful weapons with which to fight poverty in our neighborhoods.
How You Can Support Jobs for Justice- Involved Individuals
3. Please donate to UNITE INDY now. There are a number of choices that are all secure and safe. By sending your fully tax deductible gift* now we can have a greater impact meeting needs in our community in 2021
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Support of Ministries and Charities:
Remember, almost 1 out of every 3 children in Indianapolis lives below the poverty level, yet even in the aftermath of the COVID shut down, as our economy comes back to life and employment is returning, all this good news stops at the lines surrounding many of our inner city neighborhoods. In some neighborhoods of Marion County unemployment is now 21%, and poverty remains the overwhelming divider of people.
Please donate to UNITE INDY now. There are a number of choices that are all secure and safe. By sending your fully tax deductible gift* now we can have a greater impact meeting needs in our community in 2021.
Many, many thanks!
*UNITE INDY, Inc. is approved under Internal Revenue Code (IRC) Section 501(c)(3) as a Public Charity, donors can deduct contributions they make under IRC Section 170.
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Corporate Partners
A big Thank YOU to our Corporate Partners for their unwavering support which makes it possible for us to provide our services at no charge to job applicants and employers!
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