Once incarcerated, now this Charlotte man shows others the path to a second chance.

Kenny Robinson knows the value of a second chance.

After serving a 10-year federal sentence, the father of five struggled to find work. His experience led him to start his nonprofit Freedom Fighting Missionaries in 2020 to help other formerly incarcerated individuals.

It’s why he smiled and beamed with pride when he announced the names of the first 15 graduates of his nonprofit’s reentry program. Rain did not deter some 50 people from gathering last Thursday evening at Caldwell Presbyterian Church in Charlotte to see the graduates who gained employment and housing through the program.

“Those celebrated tonight are the trailblazers for many who will come behind them,” Robinson said. “They are the ones who sacrificed along with us.”

Robinson said the program aims to help formerly incarcerated people become self sufficient. This includes connecting them with housing and employment, he said. But it takes an exercise in trust for participants to believe in the budding program, he said.

The program is tailored to the needs of individuals, he said. Some participants take over a year while others take months.

Lifelong friendships and partnerships were formed over the last three years, Robinson said. The program’s participants are the community’s peers and neighbors, he added.

“We are in this struggle together,” Robinson said.

Melvin Quick, a graduate who did 16 years in federal prison, said this program helps those who are looking to forge a new path. He said he met Robinson in 2012 while they were both in a halfway house in Charlotte. At that time, Robinson was already formulating a way to help those in a similar predicament.

“This brother went on to help me get housing,” Quick said.

Ricky Brown, another graduate, said the program provided hope for those looking to improve their lives after incarceration. Brown said he bounced from one friend’s couch to another after leaving prison in 2020 until he found stable housing. The program’s focus on housing and jobs for people who were once incarcerated was a major help, Brown said.

Individuals who found jobs shortly after exiting prison were less likely to return within the next two years than those without jobs, a 2022 North Carolina Department of Commerce’s Labor and Economic Analysis Division study showed.

The study said this adds to growing evidence that employment is an important determinant of recidivism outcomes.

The focus on jobs and housing comes from Robinson’s lived experienced, Brown said. It’s why his role in shaping the program was important, he added.

“Kenny been through the fire,” Brown said. “He told me in the end it would be worth it, but it’s a process.”

Reducing recidivism

Robinson said when he left prison, the lack of a collective effort from nonprofits made it difficult to access resources. Nonprofits were spread out across the city, he said.

“It caused individuals like myself to bounce around on buses and trains,” Robinson said.

That’s why his nonprofit takes a collaborative approach, he said. Nonprofits Erika’s Closet and the Just Do It Movement are some of the partners Freedom Fighting Missionaries works with through its reentry program. This assistance ranges from helping participants find birth certificates and social security cards for employment, to court support.

“Programs like this help reduce recidivism,” Tiffany Moses, program director for Freedom Fighting Missionaries, said. “It lets individuals know there is a support system out here and people that care.”

Freedom Fighting Missionaries does an intake form when they first connect with individuals, she said. A lot of the nonprofit’s clients have come through word of mouth. People contact the nonprofit to help relatives and friends. As the nonprofit’s name has grown more people have reached out, she said.

The program is a process, she said. They work with participants to get mental health assessments, proper documentation to start looking for employment before facing the biggest hurdle — housing.

Moses said they are fortunate to partner with landlords who have been receptive to receiving their clients. It was heartwarming to see the first graduate class of the nonprofit’s reentry program, she said.

“I just wish there were more programs to help,” Brown said.

The graduation gives participants the encouragement to keep striving, said Jessica Gibson, executive director of Just Do It Movement. This celebration can serve as a reminder that difficult times do not last, she said.

“When life happens again they have something to reflect on,” Gibson said. “They can say I made it through this then surely I can make it through the next.”