The experience, vision, and fortitude to make changes.

I have been a volunteer with Straight Ahead for 22 years. My wife and I are its longest standing associates. We have worked inside and also helped provide follow up and change by placing men and women who have returned to the community with the resources necessary to lead productive lives. Ready4Life is one of the many programs that I will be implementing immediately to reduce recidivism. Below is an account of one of the many successes of this program.

Thirty-two rival gang members participated in our Ready4Life program at a Massachusetts prison in May. The results were, and continue to be, miraculous.
Bitter enemies, high-level members of the Bloods and the Crips are held in segregated tiers of a gang block. They wear uniforms that identify them as gang members. They are only allowed out of their cells for a few short hours each day.
For two years, our staff has been visiting the 17-24 year olds from Lynn, holding Bible Studies, and helping provide transportation and translation for family visits. Bible studies are held separately on each tier, but we invited all of them to come together for our three-day Ready4Life program. At first they were skeptical and afraid.

But when a leader in the Bloods wrote a letter to the Crips asking them to lay aside their gang affiliations and come together as sons of God, they accepted the challenge.
Prison staff didn’t believe it was possible for Bloods and Crips to come together without violence. Extra guards and trained dogs were brought in for the event. But in a few short hours, the dogs and guards were removed. It was clear that God was at work among these young men.
On the final day of the program, as we sat in a circle, one young man spoke up and said that he wanted to ask for forgiveness for violence he had committed against a rival who sat across from him. With tears, he crossed the room to embrace his former enemy. Many more young men embraced each other, extending forgiveness and offering peace.
After Ready4Life, twenty young men were moved off the gang block. Ten were moved to pre-release. Five have been released and are working together in our Lynn office. They are worshipping at the House of Hope Church. They are serving the homeless community. They are playing basketball with former rivals. All five are working. Three are attending college.
News of what God is doing is quickly spreading on the street and in other facilities. In the past few weeks, twelve more gang members in the community have begun participating in our Lynn program. In other facilities, we’re hearing from staff and youth who express disbelief – and then hope – that God could work among them that way.
“I wasn’t living – I just had a lifestyle,” is how one young man summed up what he discovered at Ready4Life. “I didn’t know how to live without anger, and now my anger is gone. I’m humbled and I’m at rest – it’s all good,” he said with a smile.