U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson sat down with Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry, State Attorney Melissa Nelson and other local leaders Friday.
In the city's Springfield area, they talked about Operation New Hope’s Ready4Work reentry program, which helps people who get out of prison get a job instead of returning to a life of crime.
“It’s been an amazing, amazing transformation,” said Jennifer Demarcus, who spent a year and a half in prison for a drug conviction.
Now she’s learning job and life skills. She’ll soon enter Operation New Hope’s Jacksonville Port Academy, where she’ll train for a job at the port authority.
“When we come out of prison, we absorb everything because the ones that really want change are seeking it,” said Demarcus.
Carson would not take any questions from the media, but during the roundtable, he said he wants to see similar programs across the country.
“We, yesterday at the White House, had a multiagency discussion about prisons -- and some of the very things that we’ve talked about here today. I’m going to bring this example to their attention,” said Carson.
“Being where I was, coming from having absolutely nothing, to where I am now is a huge difference.
And that’s all thanks to this program,” said Demarcus.
Port jobs pay an average annual salary of $51,000. The Jacksonville area’s average wage is $38,000.