NAACP Prison Branch Teaches Inmates about Financial Literacy

Crisis, The, Jul/Aug 2006 by Spencer, DeShuna

After spending seven years in prison, Michael D. Anderson left Richland Correctional Institution in Mansfield, Ohio, to begin a new chapter of his life: entrepreneurship.

"Ever since the first day I got out of prison, I was working. I didn't waste any time," Anderson says. "Within two weeks, I got most of my paper work to start my business."

Thanks to the NAACP Prison Project - a program designed to help former inmates live successfully after being released so they won't find themselves back behind bars - Anderson was able to start Finest Builders Inc., a construction company in Cleveland, more than four years ago.

Originally founded in 1972, the NAACP Prison Project provides mentoring, education and trade skills to NAACP prison branch members. On April 13, 2002, the Richland Correctional Institution, whose inmate population is 57 percent African American, was the first chartered chapter in more than 10 years.

Last year, Anderson helped create Richland's Financial Literacy/Real Estate Class. The weekly seminars are taught in three phases and focus on defining personal goals, retirement, investment, credit, entrepreneurship and real estate. Currently nearly 150 inmates participate in the financial literacy program.

Anderson began his company with just himself and one truck. Today he has 10 regular employees, four trucks and hundreds of subcontractors at his fingertips. He periodically returns to Richland and visits other prisons in Ohio to recruit inmates who are scheduled to be released. At the financial and real estate classes. Anderson also talks to inmates about his own personal struggles and how he achieved his goals.

"Since I was sitting where they are now four years ago, I look at the guys and sell them a vision," Anderson says. "I talk to them about changing their mindsets and explain how I changed my environment."

Former inmates occasionally contact Anderson thanking him for his encouraging words and business guidance. One ex-offender expressed to Anderson how he changed his life after listening to him at a financial seminar. Since being released more than six months ago, Anderson's protégé has bought and rehabilitated four houses and is currently renting the spaces out.

According to Dennis Baker, a 24year correctional veteran, one of the main challenges former inmates face when they are released is finding financial stability. The financial literacy program is in sync with the prison project's mission.

"Preparing inmates to go back to their respective homes fell in concert with what we were already doing as a department," Baker says. "It teaches them how to manage their families' finances, build wealth and create their own opportunities."

- DeShuna Spencer