Second Chance

This program, as reported by the Los Angeles Times, sounds pretty good.

The truth telling is crucial and the founder appears to be able to maintain it, but his approach is probably not going to be replicable, as finding people who have a great relationship with the local mayor (which has an impact on securing other local agency/business collaboration) and enough courage to deal with criminals this forcefully—without being an former criminal with criminal world status—will be almost impossible.

That being said, our prayers are with this effort.

An excerpt.

“Reporting from San Diego - His style is a mix of Socrates and Don Rickles. His goal is to coax, bully, tease, demand and manipulate ex-convicts into getting ready to find a job.

“One of the first chores is to get them to drop the habits they picked up behind bars: lying, faking, refusing to make eye contact, getting verbally aggressive when disrespected, thinking of the whole world as just another overbearing prison guard.

“Scott Silverman is relentless. "You're doing that thing again, something between a smirk and what you call a smile," he tells one student.

“He stops short another who begins a rambling explication of his crimes. "The point is: the boss doesn't want to hear this, folks," he says. Another tries to explain why he was late to class, something about being followed by a cop. Silverman rolls his eyes with a mocking look.

“At the beginning of the three-week Second Chance program for ex-cons, students are taken aback by Silverman's bluntness. Some quit. Silverman, the program's founder and executive director, does not care. He boots out other students, telling them they are not ready to drop their loser ways.”