Progress 2018 -- Making a Difference: Show of grace
By Rochelle Moore
Published in News on February 23, 2018 11:38 AM
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Marvin Alexander introduces the class to the mentors, pictured at right, that will assist them throughout the process.
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Marvin Alexander speaks to the class on the first day about expectations.
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Alexander's program is designed to help people with re-entry to the workplace.
The Rev. Marvin Alexander knows he was one step away from going to prison because of some of the choices he made in life.
He was lucky but knows that the help of positive role models made a world of difference in redirecting his life.
Today, when he looks in the eyes of people coming out of prison, he has compassion.
He knows it could have been him.
"The only difference between me and somebody who's really doing a 10- or 20-year bid in prison was grace," said Alexander, founder of the Mephibosheth Project, a nonprofit that works to help former offenders successfully transition back into society.
"(It) was the grace of God because I made some dumb choices. I participated in some things that could have gotten me in a really bad way, and I believe that grace was bestowed for the purpose of me understanding that I'm no better than anybody who has done time or is in the system now."
Alexander had several people, at different moments in life, have a positive influence on his decisions and, ultimately, his life. The first was a Boy Scout leader when he was young. In high school, it was a coach. Then, there was a first sergeant in the military.
Alexander struggled in his younger years living in a home with four brothers and four sisters and only having a biological connection to his mother. His siblings reminded him often that he was different, which left him feeling like he was on the outside.
"Part of my passion with MPI comes from my personal experience," he said. "A big piece of it is trying to fit in. That's what this population does in certain instances -- they're trying to fit in, and they're trying to belong.
"I can relate to that."
The Mephibosheth Project, also known as MPI, is an organization that works to help people coming out of prison and others on probation or parole build a successful and stable life.
Most of the people who go through the program have high-level misdemeanors or felonies on their record, he said.
The program offers help in a variety of ways and in a varied effort to match the needs of each person, whether it be learning how to live in society again or have the confidence that they can finish school and find a good job.
When offenders go to prison, their life stops and reintroducing men and women back into society can take some work, he said.
"Their life has stopped," Alexander said. "When they go in, time stops and (they are) programmed to survive. It's got to be addressed to help them be reprogrammed."
Some people can have multiple challenges, like not having a support system, work or reliable transportation.
"You'd be surprised how many people are living in the woods and how many are homeless," he said. "I think it correlates back to crime in our community. We try to help them navigate those things."
The Mephibosheth Project provides people with a host of resources and help, including a support network, social skill training, opportunities for education and job preparation and help in finding stable work. Participants can also benefit from a mentor, goal assessments, parenting skill training and career readiness.
MPI, located at 200 W. Ash St., recently launched a new program, an eight-week, faith-based curriculum, Jobs 4 Life, that helps with job readiness, self-esteem, developing the right perception of living in the community and developing a positive role in the family.
"This curriculum -- it pushes you to dream again to have visions of success," Alexander said.
MPI, which carries the motto "The Mission is Possible," is a nonprofit organization that started in December 2015 and opened its office on West Ash Street in 2017.
Since its start, 23 people have gone through the MPI program and 14 are employed.
Alexander has watched people struggle, sometimes fail but also succeed, even though many have a criminal record that could prevent or discourage them from rebuilding their lives.
"The system and society makes them think it's harder than it is because we have a stigma," he said. "Just their legal issues, there are companies that won't touch (them), but there are several around here that will.
"So, we are in a fortunate place that if I see you really want a job and are willing to make that effort, we won't stop until we find it. Your record is not something that just takes you off the market."
One of the program benefits is the chance for participants to be directly connected to area employers that are willing to offer the former offenders a second chance.
MPI partners with other agencies in the Wayne County area, including the Salvation Army, the Soup Kitchen, the N.C. Works Career Center and Wayne Community College.
Alexander, who provides most of the financial support for the program, also receives about 5 percent in individual and church donations to operate the nonprofit.
In the future, he would like to see the program become mandated for people coming out of prison. He also wants to eventually have an MPI campus, with offices and a transitional housing facility.
People who have been successful in rebuilding their lives with the help of MPI benefits the community and can serve to reduce crime, Alexander said.
"Will everybody come in and give 100 percent?" he said. "No. But if we can save one out of 10, then doesn't that make a difference?
"Doesn't that address our crime rate? Doesn't that address our ability to make someone gainfully employed and, in turn, add a positive side to our tax revenue?
"Doesn't that make our city a safer place, if we can get one out of 10?"
The name of his nonprofit, comes from the biblical story of Mephibosheth, the grandson of King Saul who was dropped by a nurse when he was young and became lame in both feet. Years later, after the death of Saul and ascension of King David, Mephibosheth was brought to Jerusalem where the king provided him with an inheritance and a place at the king's table.
Alexander sees the story in relation to the people he's helping, people who have struggled but who have the potential to create a better life.
"Truly, the population that we work with here have been dropped, stigmatized, ostracized and a lot of them have a very low self-esteem, a very low sense of believing in themselves because, for the most part, nobody believes in them," Alexander said.
"The majority can pay their debt to society and still end up paying for the rest of their life, depending on what their infraction was."
MPI exists to show former offenders and others on probation or parole that there is hope.
"The real mission here and the vision is to be an organization that will be that delegation that will help to reintroduce former offenders back into their local community and to help them to regain some self-esteem," he said.
"That's the premise of this program, is to help them maneuver coming back to the real community, coming back and learning social skills or reemphasizing social skills."
MPI is the designated community resource organization for Goldsboro Partners Against Crime, a program that offers violent offenders a last-chance opportunity to straighten up or face harsher sentencing on their next criminal conviction.
Alexander -- "Pastor A" -- is also the pastor of New Spirit Church Ministries on William Street. MPI can be reached at 919-648-9983. The nonprofit also has a website and Facebook page.