Resurrection After Exoneration attempts to ease those wrongly accused back into society
The first thing one notices upon entering the storefront of Resurrection After Exoneration is the portrait gallery of black and white photographs along the walls of the program space. Staring back at you with an even gaze, these art gallery quality photographs depict the faces of black men, each with his own unique aura of dignity and sadness. All of the faces displayed are of men who have been clients of the program - men wrongly accused and incarcerated for years in a miscarriage of justice that only a select group of appeals lawyers and DNA testing labs could untangle. Most were sentenced to death row and lost decades of their lives behind bars as their families created new constellations without them and their friends faded away.
The founder the of program, John Thompson knows firsthand the profound sense of dislocation to be falsely accused and imprisoned- he spent 18 years of his life on death row until his second appeal set aside the original sentence. Acknowledging each man deals with the dual trauma of unjust confinement and re-entry into society differently, he has used the lessons learned in his own journey to design a program which meets the tangible and emotional needs of those exonerated from prison. The program serves four to five men at a time and while services are tailored to meet their specific needs, they all receive housing and hands on support to help them get their lives back. Each man is provided housing, intensive case management, mental health services, literacy training and employment support. The second floor of the storefront houses four men and a staff person in an apartment like setting. They are encouraged to use the mental health services of REACH NOLA to help them understand and gain some mastery over how they have reacted to their experiences, whether it is suffering from anxiety, depression, anger or societal withdrawal. For many the adjustment is too difficult. Of the 29 men served since the program started in 2003, John estimates seven of the men are either back in jail or dead. Others have been able to readjust, find employment and recreate themselves.
With funding support from Baptist Community Ministries, this year the program purchased a commercial printing press and has started a business of printing t-shirts, pens and other materials for companies. Running their own business provides both a revenue stream for the program as well as a training ground for the men who often have difficulty finding and maintaining employment. There are plans to start a community garden and sell the produce creating an additional revenue stream to support the program. Through collaboration with other nonprofits, the men are provided computer literacy, employment readiness and street law classes. Program staff are responsible for intensive case management to bolster the odds that their re-entry will be successful.
While the direct service component of the program is the mainstay of Resurrection After Exoneration, it is obvious after spending time with John Thompson he has a larger mission to educate the public about the unjustly imprisoned and help those who are incarcerated not fade from the public's conscience. The photographs in the office are just one weapon in his arsenal. Using art, social media, literary works (his book, Killing Time, has just been published) and street outreach, he is on a national mission to ensure that when there is a miscarriage of justice, our society does everything in its capacity to support the reclamation of lives damaged by years of undeserved imprisonment. |
Lisa Collins named BCM 2010 Employee of the Year 
Lisa Collins joined The McFarland Institute in October of 2004 as the Administrative Assistant where her talents were quickly recognized. She was promoted to Lay Health Coordinator in 2007.
Lisa received a Bachelor of Business Administration from Dillard University and graduated from the Loyola University of New Orleans Executive Management Development Program. Lisa has 15 years professional experience in administration of federal, city and community based programs. She is a former board member of the YWCA, the Volunteer and Information Agency (VIA), Louisiana Voter Registration and Education Crusade and Kingsley House. Community activities include volunteering with Community United to Reform Education (CURE) and the Black Women's Health Project of Louisiana facilitating self-help groups in the A. P. Tureaud Community. She serves as lector and Eucharistic minister in several Catholic churches. Honors include selection as a YWCA Role Model and a Dryades YMCA Achiever in Business and Industry.
In her current position, Lisa recruits volunteers to start church health ministries in Orleans, Jefferson, St. Tammany, St. Bernard and Plaquemines parishes. Serving as a facilitator in the Lay Health Advocate training, she develops program materials, administers start-up grants and provides technical assistance for the ministry leaders. Lisa partners with Louisiana Public Health Institute, STEP Together New Orleans, Tobacco Free Living, City of New Orleans Health Department, LSU Louisiana Cancer Control Project, Soul Fest and Region I Governors Health Reform to bring physical activity programs and health initiatives to faith-based communities.
BCM is very proud to have Lisa as a part of our staff and congratulates her on this prestigious award. |
 Chaplain Renee Dorcey helps the residents of a local nursing home enjoy the Christmas Season
Holidays can be very stressful for nursing home residents. Many feel abandoned and alone during most of the year, but holidays can intensify these feelings. Christmas is especially difficult because many residents are unable to attend events and services at their own church.
Mrs. C worked for her church. She was a secretary as well as a volunteer with the women's group. For years she labored tirelessly to make her church a home for all its' members. She, of course, points out that she was one of many who dedicated her time and enjoyed the friendship she had with her church friends.
Now that Mrs. C is unable to do her church work, she feels somewhat lost. Every Christmas she helped decorate her church, an activity that gave her much joy and pride. The memories of church are still vivid for her and it causes her great distress now that she can't participate.Sensing that this could be an issue for others, I polled the residents and discovered that many of them were involved in the planning of Christmas activities in their churches. So this year, after consulting with administrators and activity directors, we gathered interested residents and had a few planning meetings. These meetings stirred up memories and it gave residents an outlet for creativity. They got excited with being part of the planning and doing rather than just being observers. Residents were part of the planning team for the Christmas services and were encouraged to take active roles.
Including residents in these planning sessions made them participants rather than simply observers. It gave them a sense of ownership of what was going on around them. It helped them to be part of something that was bigger than themselves. And it helped them to fill a void left by the absence of family and friends at this special time. |
|
Foundation Facts
BCM is governed by a Board of Trustees which is comprised of business and civic leaders in the community who volunteer their time to oversee the mission of Baptist Community Ministries. |
Find Out More... 
Cafe Reconcile |
|
|
|
|
|
Chartwell Center provides a quality instructional program geared to students along the autistic spectrum
We are used to reading about the large systemic challenges confronting the school systems of southern Louisiana, but we rarely think about the individual struggles for those with disabilities to find a learning environment adapted to their unique needs. In 1999 local parents of an autistic child found the public and private schools ill-equipped to provide an adequate education for their son. Enthusiastic of creating a school environment tailored to the hyper sensitive sensibilities and limited communication skills of the autistic child, they founded the Chartwell Center in Uptown New Orleans. The school provides educational services specifically for autistic children up to age 18. Currently providing education services from pre-kindergarten through middle school, the Center boasts a two to one teacher/student ratio with each child being paired with a special education teacher and behavioral assistant. Through physical modifications to the classroom, best practice teaching approaches and a tailored curriculum, the faculty and staff help develop their students' cognitive and social skills. Currently the school has fifteen students ranging in age from three to 18.
Autistic children are able to understand most communication but are limited in their ability to express themselves creating challenges for educators to both manage their classrooms and assess how effectively they are imparting information to their students. Recognizing that due to the small size of the Center, they would never be able to educate all autistic children in the region, Chartwell Center began to offer training for educators and other school staff across the region to help them be more effective with their autistic students. With a grant from Baptist Community Ministries in 2008, Chartwell Center started Project Assist which provided training on the learning characteristics of autistic children, classroom modifications, and communication techniques to teaching professional in the region. As all school districts are mandated by federal law to mainstream special needs students as much as practicable, the trainings have played a vital role in helping schools effectively adapt their classrooms and teaching approaches. Three trainings have been offered annually and have been supplemented by on-site technical assistance from the Center. The training provides an overview of autism, practical tips for altering the physical layout of the classroom, modifications to the school day schedule, and practical approaches to effectively educate the autistic student. The content of the training has been approved by the State Board of Education to meet some of the requirements for special education certification. Helping students focus and guard against over-stimulation through application of specific approaches has helped a multitude of schools across the region provide a welcoming place for these special students. |
Cafe Reconcile does so much more than provide delicious dishes
Café Reconcile is a well known eatery in Central City and much has been written about how its lunch time crowd is full of local politicians and decision makers. Starting with a shout-out to one of its co- founders, Craig Cuccia by President Bush during his State of the Union address in 2006 to numerous articles in the local press, the restaurant is well known as a job training site for young people between the ages of 16 and 22. But few know the motivation behind the program or its plans for expansion. Reconcile New Orleans sees itself as a agent of individual and community transformation by providing at-risk young people, ages 16 to 22, with the tools to make positive changes in their lives. This is accomplished by encouraging personal growth, providing workforce development and training, promoting entrepreneurship, and working with businesses, nonprofits, and people of faith to support this transformation. Reconcile New Orleans' mission is to strengthen the Central City neighborhood where the restaurant is located and more importantly, the lives of the young people they serve - most of which have experienced the gamut of challenges that accompany a life of poverty: parental abuse and abandonment, violence, homelessness, high school attrition, and substance abuse.
There are many workforce development programs in the city and the design of Café Reconcile has been emulated by others in the New Orleans area. The hook for the clients is job skills and assistance in securing employment, which gets many of them in the door. Once there, they are beneficiaries of a holistic approach where life skills and culinary training are provided in a supportive work environment with high expectations and strict performance standards. Once the youth are selected into the program, (they have a running waiting list through word of mouth referral from the young people they have served) they undergo a twelve week, three phase program. The first three weeks are focused on general life and employment skills stressing behavior and appropriate dress and interactions for the workplace. Instructors and case managers work to help students overcome personal and environmental challenges as they work on altering their mindset which often presumes failure and build self-esteem. Following successful completion of the life skills phase and clean drug tests, students transition into culinary training. In the second phase they receive culinary mentoring and additional work experience in all areas of restaurant service. More experienced students are expected to assume leadership roles by modeling the success they have achieved and providing encouragement to those students following them. Students who demonstrate sufficient mastery/integration of culinary and life skills and pass a second drug screening are invited to participate in a four-week internship with food service industry partners. Students work with mentors at a host site and receive continued support from program staff. Active internship partners include the Ritz-Carlton and the Loews Hotel; Emeril's New Orleans; Ochsner Health System's dietary services departments; and Sodexo Corporation, which operates Tulane University's dining service. The students are supported by case managers who work with the students throughout the program and for four months after they graduate to support the gains they have made. The case managers to help navigate workplace issues, troubleshoot obstacles to employment, and make referrals to outside service providers as appropriate.
Currently, Reconcile serves 70 youth per year, and it has plans to renovate the upper floors of the building where the restaurant is housed and offer a catering service, family literacy center and small business incubator in furtherance of its mission. Once the building is renovated Reconcile plans to graduate 120 students annually and expand support to its clients' families through the Family Learning Center. It plans to serve at least 100 additional families by offering newly established services in GED preparation, parenting skills, financial literacy, and after-school tutoring. Reconcile sees the catering service as a means to expand its revenue- generating ability to help it become more self-sustaining. The Business Accelerator Center is anticipated to serve a minimum of eight micro-entrepreneurs seeking to create and implement business plans that will generate additional economic activity for Central City. Obviously there is more to Reconcile than just great meals. Understand that the next time you have some red beans and rice at Café Reconcile and are taken by direct eye contact and attentive manner of the servers, know you are partaking in the transformation of young lives and the neighborhood most call home. |
|
Dates for accepting Transom Cycle grant applications have changed
 Baptist Community Ministries announces that the dates for accepting applications for transom cycle grants have changed. The Spring transom cycle dates have changed from March 1-15 to February 15-28 and the Fall transom cycle dates have changed from September 1-15 to August 15-31.
During the Spring transom cycle, grant applications will be accepted either by U.S. mail or hand delivery from February 15, 2011 through February 28, 2011. These new dates are two weeks earlier than the previous dates. All applications must be delivered to BCM by 5:00 PM on Monday, February 28, 2011.
Grant applications will be accepted during the Fall transom cycle from August 15, 2011 through August 31, 2011. These new dates are two weeks earlier than the previous dates. All applications must be delivered to BCM by 5:00 PM on Wednesday, August 31, 2011.
This change also applies to all Fund Development Consulting Initiative grant applications.
These changes come in response to the overwhelming number of grant applications BCM has received in the past few transom cycles. "By moving the dates up two weeks, we are better able to review and score the applications to ensure each program is carefully considered for funding", says Dr. Byron Harrell, President, BCM.
All questions concerning transom grants should be directed to Ms. Joanne Schmidt, Grants Manager at (504) 593-2323. |
|
|
Calendar of Upcoming Events
Transom Cycle Grants accepted Ferbruary 15 through 28.
March 8 - Mardi Gras Holiday |
|
Have a Story to Share?
Know of programs and people positively contributing to our community working with BCM? Send your story to cmarkham@bcm.org! |
|
|
