It's Almost Kick-Off Time!

Executive volunteers and PEP graduates will officially welcome our Class XI participants into the PEP family at the Kick-Off event on March 6 at the Cleveland Correctional Facility. Class XI currently boasts 120 participants, most of whom have only a vague idea of what is in store for them over the next few months. The Kick-Off event is a time for volunteers and previous graduates to share stories that will inspire and encourage the new class as they embark on their PEP journey. If you are interested in attending Kick-Off, please contact Lani Caffey at lcaffey@pep.org, or RSVP below.

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The Power of Peer Educators

(PEP peer educator Benji addressing Class X during BPC.)

Benji, valedictorian of Class VIII, was voted Mr. PEP by his classmates for truly living out PEP’s 10 Driving Values. As a peer educator for part of Class IX and all of Class X, Benji has worked tirelessly at assisting with class instruction, grading papers and helping to organize prison events. The following speech was written and delivered by Benji at the Class X Graduation ceremony to inspire and encourage his brothers.

Open your eyes. Around you, all are stuck in a pose. Flies in the amber of suspended animation. You do not want this. The ever-present sense of disgust. The ineffectual, frustrated rage toward a circumstance. A situation. A reality. There is a hopelessness that digs deep inside until, one day, you don’t even feel the disgust, or the frustration, or the rage anymore. You just feel…Vaguely alive. The outline of a soul as it watches time pass over existence. You can’t get rid of it fast enough. The Time. Wasting. You are in prison.

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PEP Goes Worldwide

PEP was recently featured in a column on BBC.com, in a piece entitled, "Turning Crack Dealers into Chief Executives". Here's an excerpt:

The smartly dressed young woman scribbles some percentages onto a board. As she talks about excel spread sheets, due diligence, final contracts and $10m (£6.9m) deals, about 40 men sit in rows behind her listen intently and take notes. It may sound just like any other business school class, but the students are surrounded by the high fences and razor wire of the Cleveland Correctional Facility, just north of Houston. Four years ago Catherine Rohr was a venture capitalist on Wall Street. Then she left her job with its six-figure salary and decided to create the Prison Entrepreneurship Program, or PEP.

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