Mrs. Susan, Ms. Anna, Mrs. Marissa, and Mrs. Emily love their students and work hard to inspire and motivate each and every one.  Please continue to pray for the teachers and students as the number of HopeWorks Inc. GED graduates continues to grow.

April 12 marks the graduation of the 76th PCD class in HopeWorks program history, and the program’s 800th graduate will be a part of this class. 26 current HopeWorks students will be honored for completion of the 13-week program, which includes life- and job-skills training and spiritual counseling. Additionally, 21 students will graduate from HopeWorks’ GED program with their certificate.

Join us as we celebrate how God has helped break the cycle of crime, addictions and irresponsibility in the lives of these men and women.

For more information on this event or the HopeWorks organization as a whole, contact Ron Wade at rwade@whyhopeworks.org or by calling 901.272.3700 ext. 107.

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HopeWorks, a faith-based nonprofit organization dedicated to helping Memphians break the cycle of crime and poverty, will feature Dr. Ruby Payne at its annual fundraiser, “An Evening of Hope,” Thursday, March 22, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Woodland Hills Event Center, 1000 Woodland Hills Drive, in Cordova.

Payne – an expert on the mindset of economic class, socioeconomic assumptions and overcoming socioeconomic barriers – has written more than a dozen books on poverty. Her foundational work, “A Framework for Understanding Poverty,” has sold more than a million copies.

“She’s funny and she speaks from experience because she’s lived in poverty and she’s lived in the middle class,” said Ron Wade, executive director of HopeWorks, which for more than two decades has helped poor and chronically unemployed Memphians find steady work.

Wade asked Payne to speak at An Evening of Hope after hearing her speak on poverty at Christian Brothers University.

In her talks, Payne illustrates the unspoken cues in social classes. She believes that to emerge from poverty, the poor must learn and practice the rules of the middle class.

“For people to get out of poverty, which is what we try to do, they have to understand some hidden rules of the middle class, like how to dress and the language that you use,” Wade said. “And we teach that at HopeWorks, so that’s why I really connected with her.”

Wade hopes the event will attract about 500 people.

“We really want to help people, but sometimes we just don’t know how,” he said. “Those of us in the middle class really need to understand the hidden rules of people in poverty in order to effectively help them.”

An Evening of Hope is the largest annual fundraiser for HopeWorks, 1930 Union Ave. Previous speakers include NBA broadcaster Sean Tuohy of “The Blind Side” fame and Manchester Bidwell Corp. President and CEO Bill Strickland, who was featured in the education documentary “Waiting for Superman.”

HopeWorks, which will graduate its 800th student April 12, recently published a book called “HopeWorks! Here’s Proof,” featuring 22 success stories. Available at www.whyhopeworks.org, the book will also be sold at Thursday’s fundraising event.

Most HopeWorks students have little, if any, family support, and most come from generational poverty. About 70 percent of HopeWorks students have been incarcerated, and roughly 65 percent don’t have a high school diploma.

The nonprofit’s program, which aims to lift adults out of poverty by teaching them life skills and helping them find sustainable work, uses a holistic approach that includes daily classes, counseling, mentoring, community meals, computer training, job interview preparation, GED preparation and more.

Students attend class on weekdays. For several weeks, they explore the type of work that most interests them by searching through occupational handbooks and discussing their interests with staff members, who help them narrow their searches in terms of background and education.

Once students select a field of interest, the staff looks through its database of companies within that sector that will allow students to gain real-world experience as interns.

Wade said one of the organization’s biggest continuing needs is finding local companies that will partner with the organization to provide internship and job opportunities for HopeWorks students and graduates.

Within a year of graduating from the HopeWorks program, about 50 percent of students are either working or attending some type of education program. And for many students, HopeWorks remains an anchor of continuing support long after they’ve graduated from the program.

When: Thursday, March 22, 2012 | 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Where: Woodland Hills Event Center

Internationally-renowned author, speaker and career educator Ruby Payne, Ph.D., will serve as the featured speaker for the fourth annual fundraising event “An Evening of Hope” Thursday, March 22 at Woodland Hills Event Center.

From years of life lessons, Dr. Payne, founder of aha! Process, has written more than a dozen books on poverty. Dr. Payne is an expert on the mindset of economic class, the socioeconomic assumptions of class and the framework for effective social change. She has worked to educate communities across the world about the effects of class and poverty on our society. Co-authored with Bill Ehlig, her book, “What Every Church Member Should Know About Poverty,” resonates with churches struggling to understand how to effectively serve and connect with those in poverty.

You may know how to use a credit card, checking and savings account, but do you know what to do when you don’t have enough money to pay your bills? As Dr. Payne eloquently illustrates, hidden rules and unspoken cues in social classes are numerous. Oftentimes, members of higher economic classes take the hidden rules of the lower class for granted. To break the cycle of crime and emerge from poverty, one must practice the rules of the middle class.

HopeWorks sees this, and encourages this with its students and provides the tools necessary for those in poverty to achieve success every day. Through our holistic approach to daily classes and meals, educational training and spiritual counseling, HopeWorks strives to give our students the tools they need to break free from the cycle that traps so many in our city. But what will serve our students even more is to help those in higher economic classes understand the hidden rules and challenges of those in poverty so that these individuals can be better served.

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Olivia Williams and Ann King recently celebrated their 8th and 90th birthdays, respectively, in a special way. In the true spirit of the sentiment, “tis better to give than receive,” instead of receiving the traditional birthday gift, both ladies asked guests to bring a donation of any amount to their birthday parties.

From their celebrations, they raised more than $1,000 for HopeWorks, Inc., a Memphis-based organization that serves those in need through outreach programs that develop individual worth, encourage personal responsibility and promote the honor and value of work.

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Current job: Employed at HopeWorks, Inc. since January 2003. HopeWorks is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to serving the poor through outreach programs that develop individual worth, encourage personal responsibility and promote the honor and value of hard work.

“HopeWorks, Businesses Give Hope Through Internships”

A number of local businesses are offering hope to the city’s chronically unemployed in the form of internships that provide real-world, on-the-job training.

The program is coordinated by HopeWorks, a 22-year-old nonprofit, faith-based organization dedicated to helping poor and chronically unemployed Memphians find steady work.

Students enroll for 13 weeks in the program, which uses a holistic approach that includes daily classes, counseling, mentoring, community meals, computer training, job interview preparation, GED preparation and much more.

“The internship piece is a pretty critical piece,” said Ron Wade, executive director of HopeWorks, 1930 Union Ave. in Midtown. “Like anything else, you can hear theory all the time about what you should do, but until you actually get there and get your hands dirty, it’s just the practical part.”

Students attend class weekdays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. For several weeks, they explore the type of work that most interests them by searching through occupational handbooks and discussing their interests with staff members, who help them narrow their searches in terms of background and education.

“The basic idea behind it is that if you choose something you enjoy as a career, it’s less likely you’ll leave when there are bumps in the road,” Wade said.

Once students select a field of interest, the staff looks through its database of companies within that sector that will allow students to work as interns for up to six weeks.

“We’ll brainstorm to figure out who we have a relationship with who’d be able to provide that internship,” Wade said.

Participating businesses and organizations include Broadway Pizza, Memphis Computer Cooperative, The Regional Medical Center at Memphis, Shelby County Juvenile Court, Trezevant Manor and Semmes-Murphy Clinic. Internships range from clerical to mechanical to maintenance positions.

Makowsky, Ringel and Greenberg LLC, a company that owns, manages and develops residential and commercial properties, has been involved in the HopeWorks internship program for several years.

“I believe very strongly in what HopeWorks does,” said Barbara Taylor, MRG vice president of administration, who also serves as secretary of the HopeWorks board of directors. “It provides interns the opportunity to work in a field they think they might like to apply for, and it gives them an opportunity to see what it’s really like. … It’s been a great experience for us to see someone become successful.”

Students, who participate in internships on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, are required to “work like they’re on the job,” Wade said. “You never know in this economy, with people changing jobs and such, an employer may add a position. So you really need to put everything you’ve got into that job because you never know what’s around the corner.”

On Thursdays and Fridays, students return to the classroom, where they process what they’ve learned, reviewing work skills and etiquette and discussing challenges.

Companies don’t pay the interns, but students do receive a small stipend from HopeWorks.

“You’re providing an opportunity to someone who hasn’t had one in the past, and you’re getting some work done and it doesn’t cost you anything,” Wade said. “We give the students a stipend so they can get used to handling a check, and oftentimes this is the first check they’ve ever received.”

HopeWorks students come from challenging backgrounds that have left them chronically unemployed. Roughly 60 to 70 percent don’t have a high school diploma, most have little, if any, family support, many come from generational poverty, and about half have been incarcerated.

“What happens is they become pretty discouraged, and the recidivism rate is so high for ex-felons that oftentimes if they don’t get a job, they resort back to crime and go back to jail and you’ve got that cycle,” Wade said.

For many students, HopeWorks becomes their family and remains an anchor of continuing support long after they’ve graduated form the program. Wade said about 35 to 40 graduates contact the organization each week, and Wade hopes to implement additional support for graduates, including monthly meetings to discuss job-related issues.

“Staying in touch is pretty important – we want to make sure that if you get a job, you’re keeping it,” he said.

Wade said the door is wide open for local businesses that would like to get involved in HopeWorks’ internship program.

“I think it takes a business that really is invested in our city to kind of heed that call,” he said. “Sometimes they’ll be surprised if that employee sometimes turns out to be the best employee that they have. We’re looking for companies that will step up and at least entertain the idea of internships. It’s not guaranteeing a job, it’s just giving someone an experience, and you never know where that will lead.”

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Questions have been raised recently about the logic of hiring ex-felons for jobs throughout the Memphis area. Although no one would argue that crime should ever be tolerated or repeated, a larger picture needs to be considered. To automatically reject a person who’s made poor choices in the past and never allow them to get off of the mat may not be in the best interest of our city.

A good employer shouldn’t feel pressure to hire individuals just because they do or don’t have criminal backgrounds, but rather because they can do the jobs at hand and will become valuable assets to a company. Oftentimes, ex-offenders are so motivated to prove that they can overcome their mistakes past, provide for their families and give back to society; they can become the best employees a company can hire.

We know what happens when incarcerated individuals are not given a chance. With no access to jobs, they often resort back to crime. The recidivism rate in Tennessee is reported at anywhere from 52 percent to 81 percent. Last year, our state spent $126 million housing incarcerated individuals. Another new prison is being built. Is building new prisons really the answer?

The state can save money by reducing recidivism to less than 25 percent, which seems to be a realistic objective. Experienced job readiness programs routinely report this low percentage. And dramatic success stories have already been reported in Memphis by companies that have taken the risk and hired a felon.

Many not-for-profit organizations in the city like HopeWorks, Memphis Leadership Foundation’s Economic Opportunities program, Advance Memphis, JIFF and Lifeline for Success witness, on a daily basis, the lives that are being changed when individuals are given a second chance to get it right.

There will always be the repeat offender who is given a second chance and fails. These are the people who get media attention.

But for every negative example in the news there is an equal number of men and women who have beaten the odds and become successful at their jobs. They do not return to prison. They do not live off the government welfare system. They work hard, earning the respect of co-workers and their management.

Who hasn’t made a mistake in life? Who hasn’t needed someone to give them a second chance? Faith-based organizations live by a standard of helping other people, regardless of their mistakes. It is the right thing to do. And it is well worth the risk.

Ron Wade

Executive Director, HopeWorks Inc.

“Synergy’s goal is developing good work habits in chronically unemployed/underemployed”

Training someone to weld, solder electronic components or work on a production assembly line are all vital job skills.

But for a segment of the population battling addictions or just poor work habits, where it’s an accomplishment to simply hold a job or learn to manage conflict in the workplace, such efforts would be misguided.

There were 65,600 Shelby Countians deemed chronically unemployed and underemployed at the end of 2009, according to research firm Younger Associates. Several organizations in the Memphis area work to incorporate job skills training into their programs. Those organizations include the YWCA of Greater Memphis, Girls Inc., MIFA, Bridges USA and JIFF.

Two Memphis-based organizations, HopeWorks Inc. and Synergy Treatment Center, devote considerable time and resources to creating strong work habits and employment opportunities for those with a criminal background and drug and/or alcohol dependency.

“Work is central to what we do,” says Synergy Treatment Center executive director Pete Conerly. “Without the work component, we’d be just like most of the programs you’ve heard about.”

Job or vocational skills development is a vital part of Synergy’s year-long residential treatment process that begins after the first 35 days. It is a required part of the individual and group counseling residents must participate in, says Conerly, who served as the center’s medical director before being named executive director two years ago.

The jobs that residents —— about 170 a year —— perform full-time while in treatment help to fund the majority of the treatment costs, Conerly says. Residents work through employment partners such as Methodist University Hospital, the Memphis Zoo, Cargill Cotton, The Links at Cottonwoods and The Links at Riverbend, or in Synergy’s lawn care or bulk mail businesses.

These are typically low-skilled, manual labor-type jobs where the goal is to develop good work habits in a structured, supervised environment, Conerly says.

“We pride ourselves on residents developing a work ethic and earning their own way,” he says.

Things like conflict resolution, how to dress in the workplace, how to interview for jobs, are all basic skills most clients need, he says.

While those at Synergy are battling addictions, clients who come to HopeWorks are encountering other challenges that include criminal records, low educational attainment and coming from the bottom of the socio-economic ladder, says Ron Wade, executive director. The 22-year-old faith-based organization is run from the basement of Midtown Church of Christ. Addiction is also often part of the picture, he says.

“They’ve failed with the law or education or relationships,” Wade says. “A lot of them come here pretty broken.”

About 40 people attend the two 13-week classes conducted each year where the emphasis is on personal responsibility, job readiness, spiritual counseling and behavioral counseling, he says.

About 25 percent don’t complete the program either because of a failed drug test, poor attendance or just lack of motivation, Wade says.

A good record with all of those components is crucial if Wade and the program’s staff are going to feel comfortable referring graduates to one of HopeWorks’ 40 business partners, Wade says.

Wade, who came to HopeWorks after 33 years in private industry, says workforce development with the chronically unemployed/underemployed is a crucial component in the overall economic health of the community.

Of those that are unemployed, Wade says a vast majority want to work or are capable of working, but can’t because of blemishes in their past. In many cases, those issues can be resolved and unproductive people can get back into the work force.

“It’s not that they don’t want to work, but they have a hard time getting through HR,” he says.

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