Helping Ex-Prisoners Get Back on Track

Julio Medina did a 12-year stretch on a drug charge. When he was released, he did not find a particularly welcoming job market… and that was with a Masters Degree! So imagine how hard it is for the average ex-con to find employment and turn his life around when society at large is less than eager to give a second chance.

Mr. Medina imagined just that. And in turn, he founded the Exodus Transitional Community (aka Exodus); an organization dedicated to reintegrating (or integrating for the first time) ex-cons into society, toward the end of procuring gainful employment and getting back on a productive track.

He is having remarkable results!

Roughly 500 former inmates a year pass through the doors of Exodus, located in upper Manhattan, looking for jobs, and quite often, some form of redemption. By and large, Exodus is doing a great job pointing them in the right direction.

But it is no easy task. As one of the “Job Developers” at Exodus has suggested: if a person in the Exodus program can stick to a minimum wage job for 3 to six months, “I’ll find you a better paying job.” It’s about gaining credibility. And indeed, it’s working. So well, in fact, that they have received federal grants in excess of a million dollars to continue their mission.

Perhaps Mr. Medina captured the purpose and spirit of Exodus best: “We believe in the individual and the collective worth of the formerly incarcerated, the community and their families.”
Here’s to his continued success!

Exodus contact info…

161 East 104th Street New York, New York 10029 – Telephone: 917.492.0990 – Fax: 212.722.6669 – Email us: Info@etcny.org