MERRY CHRISTMAS!
We have the extraordinary blessing of working with people who, in spite of difficult circumstances, have hope for a better life. We truly feel the hand of God guiding our meetings and directing our plans.
We are blessed by you, who have supported our efforts with your prayers, your donations, and your love.
We could not do any of this without you.
May your Christmas be full of love, spirit, and the grace of Jesus,
Jim, Nancy, Sherry, Scott, Doug, Sara, and Lamon
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CHANGING TIMES:
Jails Face New Obstacles To Job Training Classes?
The team at UNITE INDY is working closely with officials of the Indianapolis-Marion County Adult Detention Center in an attempt to schedule classes on job preparedness for those who are soon to be released from long-term incarceration.
With safety and security in mind for everyone involved, we're getting creative about how we can serve the folks who need job training without sending teams of instructors and mentors into the jail. In a number of long and intense meetings, our staff has streamlined the Jobs for Life curriculum to be available digitally, providing both hands-on materials for the student, as well as virtual mentoring.
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There will be an interval, for sure, but wasting no time, we are working on a program to put electronics into the hands of students in a program that will allow us to reach many more reentrants than might otherwise have been physically possible. God is good. In our trials, we find a better path. Look for more to come! |
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MEET LAMON!
With 'Lived Experience,' New UNITE INDY Team Member Guides Reentrants With Understanding & Enthusiasm
Lamon Rush has joined our team to staff the Reentry Room in the new Indianapolis-Marion County Adult Detention Center. He'll be there to begin the process of supplying needed connections to —basically everything —of course jobs available, but also housing, counseling, and many more services through UNITE INDY's SecondChanceIndy.com website, right down to things like bus passes and charging stations for phones. Lamon's eagerness to help people is the first thing you would notice. He dove into the Second Chance web site, and is prepared to help newly released people use it in the coming days and months to find the job that is perfect for them and to connect them with needed providers as they build a foundation for a new and better life. Again, we found just the right person, when we needed 'just the right person.' No coincidences!
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OUR FOUNDING EMPLOYER PARTNER:
Park 100 Foods Hard At Work for Reentrants
UNITE INDY's Jim Cotterill and Scott Whiting joined Park 100 Foods' executive team to meet and discuss plans for continued reentrant hiring. This company was the first to employ reentrants through UNITE INDY's Inmate Transportation Program that removes the No. 1 barrier to employment for those released from incarceration—the lack of affordable, dependable transportation.
The company partnered with UNITE INDY in a year-long pilot program transporting reentrants from Marion County to their plant in Tipton, IN, and back daily. Because of its success, the effort is now being expanded through grants from City of Indianapolis and the State of Indiana.
Through all, Park 100's executives have been fully engaged, and each is personally committed to helping reentrants get a firm foothold on a better life through honest work that pays a living wage. Great folks doing great things!
Pictured left to right: Park 100's Co-Presidents, Rick Mager and David Alves; UNITE INDY'S Scott Whiting; Park 100 Owner, Jim Washburn; Ian Cox, Director Continuous Improvement; UNITE INDY'S Jim Cotterill; Park 100's VP Operations, Dan Ringlespaugh, and Joe Mazero, Director of Finance.
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NANCY'S BLOG POST:
When Churches Split: What Do We Do?
Recently there has been an exodus of folks from a large popular church here. People who were staunchly committed to a certain ideology found that some foundational beliefs were now considered to be out-of-date. Others liked the change. It reminds me of the man who was found by a sailor on a remote island. The sailor asked, “Why do you have three huts?” The man replied, “One is my house, one is my church, and the other is the church I used to go to.” Rifts within the Christian community are not only damaging, but also very sad. How do these injurious and hurtful splits occur, and what should our reaction be? Read Nancy’s blog 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. Become a Member - Your tax deductible gift will buy either 5 Student Workbooks for a class or 10 meals for students, their mentors, and instructors to gather around a table before each class, sharing food, transforming the moment into something more unique by creating a sense of community, which strengthens the relationship building process.
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Support of Ministries and Charities:
Since 2017 UNITE INDY has provided a free web-based system at UNITEINDY.org that connects churches, ministries, and other charities to share their volunteer needs or needed items. UNITE INDY also provides the manpower necessary to assist smaller organizations—that have no one to upload needed items—the help they require to access this service. Through this portal, UNITE INDY has brought hundreds of volunteers and thousands of dollars worth of needed goods into the hands of those who assist the poor.
Serving the Servants:
UNITE INDY comes behind urban pastors and ministry leaders by addressing personal and professional needs with free services for those who work tirelessly in their neighborhoods to care for the needy and bereft.
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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