Thru These Doors Walked

“At Fortune, I’m trying.  I’m not just sitting on the corner waiting for something to happen to me.  I’m working to make my future.”

Terrell Russell

Like many of our clients, Terrell ad to come to Fortune a couple of times before he “got it” – before the words of our counselors took hold and he was able to make the decision to transform his life.  This open-door policy is part of what makes Fortune unique; we realize that relapse is part of recovery and welcome clients back as many times as is necessary for them to make positive, lasting changes in their lives.  But Terrell’s story is different.  A 9th grade drop-out, Terrell came to Fortune after spending his 18th birthday behind bars - meaning that he was able to make these spectacular strides while still a teenager.   

With a maturity far beyond his years, Terrell remembers how he was arrested for robbery at age 17 and brought to Rikers Island.  A judge sent him to The Fortune Society, where he only spent a week in our Alternatives to Incarceration (ATI) program before being remanded back to jail.  “I didn’t really get away from my neighborhood, even though I was trying to get back in school and earn my GED,” he says.  Terrell didn’t realize that attendance in the program was mandatory and starting skipping days – which was when the judge sent him back to Rikers.  Thankfully, he was given a second chance to come to Fortune, where his individualized ATI program focused on anger management, substance abuse treatment and education.

Terrell quickly learned from his mistakes.  “The second time around I was willing to listen to my counselor and take in whatever she had to say,” he remembers.  “At first I felt everything was all her fault.  I blamed her for me going back.  But in reality, I wasn’t handling my business like I was supposed to.  She recommended that I do school at Fortune.  It’s the best thing that ever happened to me.  The Education Department was like my family.”

After only 10 months in the program, Terrell passed his GED exam!  He is currently working with his teacher on college entrance essays and hopes to one day attend the City University of New York.  In the meantime, he’s still taking classes at Fortune – both as a refresher and to ensure that he doesn’t “fall off” and slip back into old habits.  He has even been working with David Rothenberg, Fortune’s founder, to inspire and mentor some of our younger clients.  “It was the first time that anybody ever thought I could be an example to someone,” he says proudly.

Terrell has big plans for the future and intends to study politics when he gets to college.  “I want to travel to places that need help.  I want to share everything I know, everything I’ve learned.”  But no matter what happens, Terrell remains proud of the strides has made:  “At Fortune, I’m trying.  I’m not just sitting on the corner waiting for something to happen to me.  I’m working to make my future.”

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Lysette Placencia

Lysette (Lisa to her friends and colleagues) came to visit her friend who was a counselor in Fortune's Nueva Vida (New Life) program, an alternative to incarceration (ATI) program for Spanish speakers. "How did you get such a good job?" she asked. "People with records don't get good jobs. They do McDonalds."

A week later she came back to Fortune to become a volunteer. She immediately exhibited a positive attitude, great energy and abundant talent, and caught the attention of the staff at Fortune. After a short while she was offered a job reviewing and updating client folders. She was able to quit her job at McDonalds.

Today, eighteen months after her initial arrival, Lisa is the Intake Coordinator for Fortune's ATI Unit. She performs the initial interview and assessment of all clients who come to the program. She also trains all of the volunteers and interns in the unit, and is learning how to write quarterly reports to Fortune's funders. "I love what we do here. Guys come here instead of jail. The guys are scared. I tell them about my three bids and they don't want to go. I love to help the clients. They even come back after graduation."

Lisa doesn't like to set goals, since so many of her previous goals never worked out. She believes that if she stays focused, takes things day-by-day and works hard, good things will happen to her. After nearly ten years in prison, Lisa is determined to never go back. She has a good job and is helping her sister raise her three daughters and granddaughter, both financially and emotionally. As long as she has Fortune and her fellow staff members behind her, she feels she will make it.

"I'm so grateful to all the staff at Fortune. Maria (Perez) and Rosa (Chieco) are my mentors. I see their hard work and they see my potential. They gave me a chance." Lisa was recently presented with flowers at a staff meeting. Because of her good behavior and steady work at Fortune, she was released from her parole obligations early. She is now completely free.

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David Ventura

It’s not unusual for former Fortune Society clients to make the transition to full-time staff members - after all, over 75% of our employees have personal experience of some kind with the criminal justice system - but David Ventura’s story is unique in that he was able to make this challenging shift as a young adult. As his supervisor, Elizabeth Loebman, is fond of saying to colleagues, “David may be only 23, but he has the soul of a very old, wise man.”

David first came through our doors in 2002 as a client in our Alternatives to Incarceration program. Like so many of our clients, his formative years were challenging. David never had the opportunity to know his mother and his father’s drug dealing meant that he was often left to take care of his eight younger siblings alone. His father was arrested in front of the children and eventually the family was split up.

David started selling drugs when he was still a teenager. “I thought that it would bring me closer to my dad,” he says. But eventually he realized that the path was leading to nothing but trouble and he was likely to succeed only in sharing a cell with his father. Facing fifteen years in prison on charges stemming from drug possession and distribution, David’s judge mandated him to the Fortune Society where he was able to spend the next six months attending programs and taking advantage of our counseling and education services. David threw himself into his treatment program. “My sentencing judge had my charges listed in front of him in black and white,” he says now. “I knew the only way that I would be able to change his perception of me was to have a longer list of positive things to put right along side of it.”

So David concentrated on getting the most out of the experience, although he found the atmosphere challenging at times. Rather than let the less-than-ideal situation hamper his progress, he sought counsel from Ms. Loebman. “One day he met with me in private to discuss how some of the peers in his HIV Peer-Education Training were very immature,” she remembers. “He was 21 at the time and some of the other students were as young as 14. I constantly used to tell David to ‘stick it out!’ I saw so much potential in him. I knew if he graduated, he’d make a great addition to our agency.”

David finished his program and was subsequently hired as a Senior Peer Educator in February of 2005. Every day he leads groups of young people, educating them about the dangers of HepC and STDs, including HIV/AIDS. These educational workshops are not just delivered to our clients – David gets the opportunity to travel to schools and other drug treatment programs, any place where people can benefit from his knowledge and experience. Although some of the people he talks to are decades older than him, David insists that they treat him as a revered peer. “They tell me stuff that they don’t always tell their counselors. Most people don’t see my age, they see the message.”

Although he’s achieved so much in such a short time, David’s not content to rest on his accomplishments. He wants to start college soon and continue working with young people. “If I got here, I can go anywhere,” he asserts. “I’m focused. I’m trying to build somebody. I’m trying to build a new me.”

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Mustafa

When Mustafa came to The Fortune Society after 27 years in prison, he was living in a men's shelter on Ward's Island. A Fortune staff member, Michelle McKenzie, invited him to a residents' meeting at Fortune's housing facility, The Fortune Academy. He was initially reluctant to come to Fortune – he didn't want to exchange one institution's set of rules for another's – but during the meeting he was asked where he saw himself in five years. As someone who had always lived day-to-day and never thought much about the future, this was an eye-opening question. He decided that he wanted to be a part of an organization that encouraged people to set goals for the future and then helped them to realize those goals. Mustafa made a good impression on the staff at the Academy and, after a needs assessment meeting with a Fortune counselor, was extended an invitation to become a resident, which he accepted.

Since all residents are required to volunteer around the Academy to help operate the facility, Mustafa offered to help out in the kitchen. He had twenty-three years of experience working in prison kitchens. He began by doing dishes, mopping floors and serving food to other residents. He soon impressed the Director of Food Services, Tom Pumo, who asked Mustafa if he would like to intern in the kitchen to make some money. Mustafa was interested, but felt obligated to tell Tom a secret he had been keeping from everyone – he is legally blind because of severe glaucoma. Over the years he had developed techniques that enabled him to perform day-to-day functions, and to keep his impairment to himself.

The Fortune Society, working in conjunction with Lighthouse International, an organization that helps the visually impaired, arranged for a full-time internship in Fortune's kitchen paid for by the government through the Americans with Disabilities Act. Working together, Fortune and Lighthouse were able to arrange for computer equipment that magnifies type, which helps Mustafa to handle the administrative aspects of his job. Now Mustafa runs the kitchen, preparing meals for the residents, or as he likes to say "preparing home-cooked meals for people coming home." Fortune's cooking staff provides nutritious meals in a safe, caring environment, none of which Mustafa had when he came out of prison. He is pleased to help give others what he did not have.

With the help of Fortune's housing specialists, Mustafa recently moved from the Academy into his own studio apartment in Manhattan. He is also working to reestablish close ties with his family. For the first time in a long time his parents are proud of him. They have attended a number of Fortune Academy events – barbecues, parties, etc. – and they beam with pride as they watch him cater the events.

Last year, at the age of 49, Mustafa paid taxes for the first time, a milestone that he is proud to have reached. "It's part of being free," he said. He is looking forward to voting for the first time and would like to get more involved in encouraging other former prisoners to vote. He also relishes being a role model for the other residents at the Academy. His presence in the kitchen and around the Academy is inspiring to other residents. According to Mustafa, when they look at him, they think "if this guy is blind and spent 27 years behind bars and he is trying to do the right thing, I wonder what I can accomplish."