R/6 programs help ex-offenders regain livelihood
- Jul 3, 2008 - comment
More KBC churches need to assist and disciple participants
Crestwood, KY—One week before she was to be released from a 33-year term in a correctional facility, Dawn Albert learned that her living arrangements at a halfway house had fallen through, leaving her with no place to go.
Knowing she needed a home in order to be released, but without any other options, Albert turned to the prison pastor.
“I had no family in Kentucky. I went to the pastor and he recommended for me the R/6 Mentoring Program,” she recalled. Albert was accepted into the program and began the process of re-entering society soon after.
The R/6 Mentoring Program is an extension of the Kentucky Baptist Convention’s ongoing prison ministry. Its goal is to help ex-offenders become self sufficient upon release from prison.
R/6 uses local church support and mentors to help former offenders re-acclimate to society by offering guidance in discipline, discipleship and devotion.
Crestwood Baptist Church in Oldham County agreed to help Albert through the program and went on to pay the deposit and first month’s rent on an apartment for her. A mentor from Crestwood Baptist, Betty Stringer, began regularly meeting with Albert.
“Betty listened to me whenever I needed someone to talk to as I worked at getting established,” Albert noted. “She would go to Crestwood and say, ‘We need to get Dawn some more clothes,’ and they would send me care packs with shoes, jeans and body wash.”
The concept of R/6 began in February 2005 when a Kentucky pastor who was concerned about ministering to ex-offenders contacted the KBC about the need, according to Gary King, director of the R/6 Mentoring Program.
King worked with Randy Foster, director of the KBC’s Baptist Men on Mission department, to develop the initiative, which officially began in June of 2006. King has served as the program’s director ever since.
According to King, R/6 stands for the six program goals of release, re-entering, re-adjustment, relationships, responsibility and reward.
“Our goal is to help those who will be able to support themselves if we can help them get their feet back on the ground,” he explained. “Whether it is offering temporary financial support, spiritual support, employment or housing assistance, we do what we can to get them established.”
The program has been successful, King said, but more churches are needed to help meet the great need. He pointed out that congregations can help either by becoming sponsoring churches who take on ex-offenders or by providing financial assistance.
R/6 works with participants for 12 weeks, then reevaluates their situations to see if they need and warrant further assistance, King noted. He added that R/6 seeks to make contact with potential participants six months prior to their release date.
“We interview guards, chaplains and others who have been associated with them,” he said. “We do some background work on them and check on their family situations.
“The state says that 33,000 ex-offenders will be coming out in the next 12 months, so we can’t help all of them. We hand out applications to chaplains, or our committee members hand them out (to inmates) when they visit prisons.”
Mentors for each ex-offender come from a local church and King said the mentors work personally with each participant, helping them line up housing and employment. The spiritual component of R/6 is a high priority, he noted.
“Getting the ex-offenders connected to God spiritually is the goal, because we feel like that is the key to their success,” he acknowledged. “The mentors meet with them one time a week doing Bible study and participants are expected to attend church functions or activities a minimum of three times per week.”
Other churches across Kentucky have become convinced of the program’s importance and have made significant contributions to its growth.
Near the end of 2007, Marantha Community Baptist Church in Lexington began renting a three-bedroom home to house R/6 participants. Pastor William Farris said the church saw the need to reach out to the ex-offenders.
“Nobody wants to give them a second chance and it is hard to succeed when the deck is stacked against you,” he noted. “We presently have a full house with a house manager. The manager provides order and security, cooks food and serves as a trained mentor leading them in Bible study.”
Farris said Marantha decided after one month of working in the program to pursue the purchase of a larger house because of the level of need.
Meanwhile, King pointed out that he is negotiating with a housing organization to rent a portion of their facility in Washington County, which would be able to house up to 25 men. R/6 is also looking into using the organization’s 19-bed facility in Lincoln County to house women.
Those who have gone through R/6 said they believe the program was critical in their success.
“It meant the world to me to know there was an organization based on faith that was believing in me and constantly helping me,” Albert declared. “That is one of the reasons that I want to become a mentor myself.”
For more information on the R/6 Mentoring Program or to become a sponsoring church, call the KBC’s Baptist Men on Mission department at (502) 489-3527, or visit www.kybaptist.org.
This article is reprinted from the May 27, 2008, issue of the Western Recorder, the newspaper of the Kentucky Baptist Convention.
Further Learning
Learn more about: Faith, Ministry, Citizenship, Hunger/Homelessness,