Street roots., December 11, 2015, Page 9, Image 9

Street Roots • Dec. 11-17, 2015
News
Page 10
Entrepreneurs on the inside
With A Social Ignition, founder Sonja Skvarla uses the language o f business
to help people invest in themselves, even when no one else will
BY JOANNE ZUHL
“It’s the systemic throwing away of humans
that I can’t get behind.”
STAFF WRITER
oshua Wright has a plan to help people,
specifically young adults. His business
plan is to create a mixed martial arts
gram for at-risk youths. The model would
teach young adults the principles of
discipline, honor and respect through a
medium that appeals to their naturally
adventurous side.
Wright is young,
26, but he doesn’t
have much time. He
has cystic fibrosis,
and was told he has a
lifespan of 32 to 35
years, he said, a
prognosis that
resonates through
our conversation. It’s
a different but not
Joshua Wright
defeated perspective.
Wright is calm and determined about his
future.
“People don’t need to be fixed. They need
help,” he said, sitting in a classroom where
he is studying the techniques of a successful
entrepreneur; learning how to connect with
people and build a service for the common
good.
More importantly, he said, he’s learning
that it’s not just about running a business or
making money. He’s learning about investing
in himself, for his future — whatever it might
hold — and to tap into the difficult lessons of
his past to make it work.
Because in three years, Wright will walk
out of prison with a felony record, having
served a six-year sentence for burglary with
a firearm. And regardless of what he and his
incarcerated classmates want to do to help
people when they get out, they know they
will be walking into a world that hates
felons.
“Labeling people is the first step to
dehumanizing people,” he said. “If that’s all
you see of me, than I’m sorry for you
because I’m so much more than th a t”
i
right is an inmate at Columbia River
Correctional Institution and a student
with A Social Ignition, a nonprofit
organization that uses a curriculum of
entrepreneurship and professional
development to help people re-enter society
after incarceration. There are the familiar
business lessons in A Social Ignition’s
programs, but the overarching agenda is
self-improvement, self-confidence, and
taking advantage of the wealth of experience
they already have to address problems in
society.
“Entrepreneurship,” said Sonja Skvarla,
“is an emotional journey. It’s the power of
choice. What are good choices? What are
bad choices? Who is making those
decisions? All that is taken away from them
in prison. You have to practice th a t”
W
urtis Gibson, 52, had a long career in
real estate before committing the crime
of theft by deception that landed him a
5-year prison sentence. He is halfway
through completing his time in prison, and
after 30 years being self-employed, he
thought he knew it all when it came to
running a business. But now, in Skvarla’s
class, he said he’s focusing on how to use
that knowledge to foster a business for
change.
“Being in prison doesn’t have to define
you,” Gibson said.
But for the more than 66 million
Americans with felonies on their records, it
often does.
The obstacles facing felons upon release
are legion, including institutional barriers to
employment and housing, with strict
parameters around where people can live.
Starting in January, as a result of the state’s
“ban the box” campaign,” nonexempt
__ in Oregon will be prohibited from
inquiring about an applicant’s criminal
background in the initial stages of the
application process. No such ban exists for
housing, and the scarcity of affordable
housing, combined by strict parole rules,
and prohibitive eligibility requirements for
federal assistance, add to the challenge for
parolees.
Skvarla views the lack of safe, stable
housing as one of the biggest obstacles to
success upon release.
“When people have to declare they have a
criminal record in housing, that generally
means they only get to live in certain areas,”
Skvarla said. “And if we’re talking about a
revolving door of jail, a lot of people know
people in those areas. And some people in
the program have been able to negotiate
with their parole officers to live someplace
else because they had friends in another
area that would be a safer environment. But
not all have been able to do that because
they don’t have the social network.”
E
PHOTO BY BEN BRINK
"T h is Is a population that
- we throw away."
more than anyone else 1 b our country
Skvarla founded ASI in 2012 as a way to
apply her multiple business degrees to a
population that faces incredible odds against
success. The focus isn’t necessarily to
create a new enterprise upon release, but
having prisoners see themselves - their
lives - a s that enterprise - one that deals
frankly with the obstacles and has the
confidence and network to rise above them.
And never return to prison again.
But nowhere is this about dismissing
their past.
“We teach them to learn from their past,
don’t ignore it,” she said. “Let’s talk about it
and move forward. Usé it! To be whole, you
have to embrace all of the moments of your
life. It’s not so much about second chances
but that life is cumulative.”
Students pay $25 to attend the classes,
which is a significant amount of a prisoner’s
nominal wage. It’s an investment, Skvarla
said. Other than that class fee, the program
is funded entirely through donations and
grants. It does not receive any money from
the Oregon Department of Corrections.
Students are asked to develop a business
model, which is vetted through the class and
- SONJA SKVARLA
mentors, and ultimately presented - inside
the prison - in front of businessmen and
entrepreneurs in the community. It’s about
having the confidence to “speak the
language of business,” Skvarla said.
Past professionals have included
representatives from Nike, Intel and other
local business owners, even Mayor Charlie
Hales. It’s a stark contrast to the inherent
isolation of prison, where there is security
in staying under the radar and keeping
quiet.
“When you’re asked to get in front of
class and share your ideas out loud, it’s very
exposing,” Skvarla said. “It’s scary.”
But it’s those conversations about failure,
the emotional experiences shared between
entrepreneur and inmates, that is the magic
of the class, Skvarla said.
“This is a population that - more than
anyone else in our country - we throw
away,” she said. “We say, ‘we don’t want
you.’ I feel akin to that process. People feel
like they’re not worthy, that people don’t
want me. It’s abuse.”
Skvarla isn’t naïve about offenders
serving due time for an offense, she said.
here are currently more than 1.5 million
people in state and federal prisons in
this country. That’s more than the
populations of Portland and Seattle
combined. Most will be released eventually.
There are currently nearly 5 million people
under community supervision across the
country. Nationwide, the Bureau of Justice
Statistics reports that approximately three-
quarters will be rearrested within five years
of their release, and more than half will be
reconvicted. It’s a business costing states
more than $48 billion a year, according to
the bureau’s latest figures from 2010.
Nationally, about 1 in 4 people released
will return to prison. But statistically,
recidivism often is less about committing a
S