Each year in the United States, approximately 650,000 ex-offenders are released into communities to begin the difficult road of finding a job, housing and connections that will keep them on a path that doesn’t lead back to prison.
Ellen, the guest on Third Way Media’s Shaping Families radio program this week, is a mother who at the time of this interview for a documentary on families and housing had recently been released from prison after a drug sentence. She had a 12-year-old child and they were living in a transitional housing situation in which roofs were leaking and people outside their apartment were dealing drugs. She was extremely frustrated and tried hard to change her situation.
“You just you have to have housing in order to function," she said. "That is the most valuable and priceless component.”
The weekly 15-minute Shaping Families program airs each weekend on 17 local stations and is sponsored by 11 Mennonite churches and several businesses. Podcasts appear online at www.ShapingFamilies.com each Friday. Shaping Families is produced by Third Way Media on behalf of Mennonite Churches through Mennonite Mission Network.
