A 15- month program that aims to prevent violence, create foundations, build financial empowerment, and support job creation for the formerly incarcerated is taking root in St. Louis.
The Prison-to-Six-Figures (P26F) initiative was launched by serial entrepreneur Bruce C. Carter in collaboration with the non-profit organization Restoring Families Across America Foundation (RFAA).
The program will select one formerly incarcerated person in the St. Louis area who will receive assistance to increase their credit score to at least 700, obtain professional certifications for employment, and training to create profitable personal businesses.
“We will do a campaign to find that person with media buys,” Carter said. “There will be social media, some press, and other partners that we talk to. We will go through our process of identifying that one person from St. Louis among a pool of 15 candidates.”
Other cities that the program will operate in are Baltimore, Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, Memphis, Oakland, and New York City.
“I have no interest in speaking to politicians,” Carter told the St. Louis Record. “Been there, done that and I've seen zero return. There may be one or two people who are there, but I decided to work directly with the people. I don't need permission and I’m not looking for relationships with politicians in any of these cities at this point.”
The search will launch nationally at the end of August.
“The criteria is that you're 30 years or older, you've been in prison, you live in St. Louis, whether it's the city or the county, and you desire to be a change agent as well as live a productive life,” Carter said in an interview. “We want you to be able to come back and have enough influence over other incarcerated individuals that they too can regain control over their lives.”
Carter, who regrets not suing the Dallas Morning News for accusing him of suppressing black votes for Pres. Donald Trump, initially supported Trump with the group Trump for Urban Communities but he became disillusioned after learning that the Trump administration allegedly wasn't following through on their promise to small businesses.
"The direct thing that I had issue with in 2016 was the promise to put hubs in place, directly fund small businesses so they can have accounting and become bankable but the group that was out there supposedly implementing it, started falling off and then they found all these reasons not to do what they committed to do during the process of running during the election," Carter added. "For that reason, I backed away because I felt like they tried to play me."