“I dropped out of school in the 7th grade. And the crazy part is … no one asked why, and no one came looking. Then 2018 happened. What I used to call a charge … I now call a blessing. Because it led me to PEP.”

At the Barbed Wire to Business Accelerator event on April 30th, PEP Executive Relations Manager Michael Etcheson, told his story to a packed house of 300 people. What you just read was a segment of that speech. I have had the privilege of working with Mike for just over a year. I have watched him grow and succeed, but until then, I had never heard his story.

I fought to hold back the tears.

At the end of his testimony, he asked all the brothers in the room to stand. There were audible gasps. A room full of men in suits who once wore prison whites: fathers, businessmen, husbands and leaders, all because of a program that really works.

It was a powerful night, but even with so much done, there is still more to do. People in the room that night were challenged to use their superpowers to transform lives. PEP has expanded our reach from 1,200 men to over 134,000. While it costs $32,000/yr to incarcerate, $4,500 can restore a man through PEP.

We have a new housing unit that has received over $700,000 in in-kind material and to provide safe housing for our men upon release, but this much-needed project needs an additional $300,000 to achieve this goal. If you would like to help us with this, you can go to www.pep.org/donate or even better, schedule a call with Mike Etcheson and ask him to tell you the rest of his story as part of the conversation.

During our staff meeting last week, Tim Daniels, Director of Reentry, provided us with numbers that caught my attention. By end of Q2 2026, the number of men being released will have doubled from the end of Q4 2025. The chart above tells the story: PEP is scaling at an increased rate.

This is great news, but it is also sounding the alarm. It means there will be more stories like Mike’s. But reentry is hard work – for the men and their families. They need support. Life Caddies and housing are critical components to success, but Life Caddies cannot carry the load alone. Volunteers are amazing, but when you speak with the men, you often hear them speak about their families as their assistance and motivation.

What struck me about everything I heard at B2B, was that every man on stage spoke about the importance of their families.

Children who inspired these men to change and continue to drive them to do better – and not just for their families, but for their communities.

But I will also tell you that many men have also spoken about the importance of transition housing as part of the restoration of their families.  Even for men who have a home to go to, many choose to go to transition houses to give them and their loved ones the right time and space to return to each other.  As I often tell the guys inside, we are taught to believe that transition is something between two things, but for them, it has to be its own thing.  When done well, we get more stories like Mike – men who live the mission to transform lives, restore families and rebuild communities.

Chris

Thank you to everyone who attended and supported this year’s PEP Annual Event. Your presence, encouragement, and belief in the mission helped make the evening truly meaningful. We’re grateful for every volunteer, sponsor, graduate, partner, and supporter who continues to invest in transformation, leadership, and second chances. Watch the event recap video below to relive some of the moments that made this year so special.

PEP was honored to recently be featured by WFAA, helping shine a light on the life-changing impact of second chances and the transformational work happening through our program every day. We’re grateful to the WFAA team for sharing the stories of our graduates, volunteers, and community, and for helping bring greater awareness to the mission and movement behind PEP. Watch the feature below to see how lives, families, and futures are being transformed through leadership, entrepreneurship, and hope.

Outside Event

In conjunction with eSchool, executive volunteers are invited to a monthly networking event with our participants in Houston and North Texas. The event aims to connect you with eSchool participants and support them in developing their vision, creating resumes, leveraging LinkedIn, etc.

Both men and women are encouraged to participate.

Final Round: Lychner Summer 2026 Business Plan Competition

Provide quality feedback on participants’ business models that will encourage participants to improve and continually develop ideas; to serve as a business coach to further develop business ideas; Networking with participants and other attendees.

Outside Event

Join us for an evening of connection and collaboration at the PEP Business Mixer.

Meet entrepreneurs, mentors, and community leaders, explore funding opportunities with Entre Capital, and learn how PEP is helping returning citizens build strong businesses. It’s a simple way to plug into real impact.

Round 2 : Estes Summer 2026 Business Plan Competition

Join us for an evening of connection as we learn more about PEP and the Barbed Wire to Business event while celebrating second chances.

Final Round: Estes Summer 2026 Business Plan Competition

Provide quality feedback on participants’ business models that will encourage participants to improve and continually develop ideas; to serve as a business coach to further develop business ideas; Networking with participants and other attendees.

Outside Event

In conjunction with eSchool, executive volunteers are invited to a monthly networking event with our participants in Houston and North Texas. The event aims to connect you with eSchool participants and support them in developing their vision, creating resumes, leveraging LinkedIn, etc.

Both men and women are encouraged to participate.

At PEP, we often talk about transformation, second chances, and the men working to rebuild their lives and futures.

But behind so many of those stories are women carrying burdens that are rarely fully seen or understood.

This Mother’s Day, Gerald Dooley, PEP’s Director of In-Prison Initiatives, shared a deeply personal reflection about the mothers, grandmothers, wives, and caregivers who continue showing up through some of life’s hardest moments.

“Good morning, PEP,

As we move closer to Mother’s Day, I have found myself reflecting deeply on who the true silent heroes are when incarceration impacts a family. While we often focus on the men inside our program and the transformation they are experiencing, there is another group carrying a weight that is rarely talked about enough, the mothers.

The mothers who answer every phone call.

The mothers who drive hours for visits.

The mothers who raise children while trying to hold a family together.

The mothers who carry financial burdens, emotional burdens, and the quiet heartbreak that comes with watching someone they love struggle behind prison walls.

Whether it is a mother supporting her son, a wife carrying the responsibilities of a household while her husband is incarcerated, or a grandmother stepping in to raise children, these women endure more than most people will ever truly understand. They continue to show up through pain, disappointment, uncertainty, and exhaustion, often without recognition.

I know personally, all too well, the pain that I caused my own mother during my incarceration.

I know it was not easy.

I know there were sleepless nights, worry, disappointment, fear, and emotional burdens that she carried because of decisions I made.

Looking back now, I understand more clearly the weight that mothers often carry in silence while trying to hold everything together.

And I am deeply thankful that I had such a great mom during that period in my life. Her love, support, and refusal to give up on me helped shape the man I became.

I know many of the men we serve today are standing on the shoulders of mothers who never stopped believing in them, even when the world did.

What PEP does is not limited to transforming the lives of the men in our program. We impact entire families. We impact children. We impact mothers who have spent years praying for change, hoping for healing, and waiting for the day they can see their loved one become the man they always believed he could be.

Some of the most emotional moments I have witnessed in this organization have not come from the men themselves, but from the mothers sitting in our graduations with tears in their eyes because, for the first time in a long time, they can finally see hope again.

I want to personally express my deepest gratitude to every mother within PEP, every mother who volunteers her time, every mother who walks through our units, attends our graduations, supports our mission, and pours love into people who desperately need it.

To all the mothers in and around PEP:

Happy Mother’s Day.

Thank you for your love, your sacrifice, your resilience, and the impact you make every single day.

With love,
Gerald Dooley
Director of In-Prison Initiatives
Prison Entrepreneurship Program“

To every mother connected to the PEP family, thank you.

Your strength changes lives more than you may ever fully realize.