In recognition of #SecondChanceMonth, #TheCultureConnect meets Pastor Jerry Blassingame of Greenville, South Carolina, founder and CEO of Soteria Community Development Corporation, a non-profit organization addressing the needs of formerly incarcerated people. The Soteria CDC re-entry program provides transitional housing, both men and women’s facilities, financial literacy, job training, multiple social enterprises, entrepreneurial opportunities, and discipleship.

Put your tools away. A life at Soteria after incarceration offers second chances through structure and responsibility.

The men who live at Soteria’s transitional house are often grappling with their identities once released from prison, and are determined to make more of their lives than the mistakes that landed them there.

After spending 5 months with Soteria, Investigative Reporter, Kathryn Casteel published an article following one of our program participants, Henry Thomas.

Kathryn Casteel from the Greenville News spent the last five months following a handful of men living at Soteria and wrote this article about reentry, the work of Soteria, and the lives we serve.

An Upstate organization that helps men and women coming out of prison is working to rebuild but is facing some roadblocks.

Soteria was featured in Upstate Vibe 365’s Ten at the Top!

We are thrilled to celebrate the opening of Soteria House for Women. Join us this Thursday on August 11th for our ribbon cutting.

We look forward to seeing you there!

An update from our founder, Jerry Blassingame, on the fire than burned our Soteria At Work wood shop.

A fire broke out at a Greenville nonprofit Wednesday evening, according to Deputy Chief Shane Walters, with Parker Fire Department.

According to Walters, no one was inside and there were no injuries.

Founder, Jerry Blassingame said he’s happy no one was hurt but is at a loss for words…

Soteria Community Development Corporation held a drop-in event Tuesday to educate the community on its re-entry program to help people transition back into society after incarceration where local and state state representatives declared April as 2nd Chance Month.

Upstate re-entry program to open new women's facility. Soteria plans to open a transitional house for women in April.

To serve women navigating the obstacles of reentry as they journey back into society, Soteria CDC will open a 16 bed transitional housing facility for women in the Spring.

We are joined today by Jerry Blassingame. He runs a non profit for individuals impacted by our criminal justice system called Soteria CDC. He is here today to tell us about Soteria CDC and to tell us about a Virtual Silent Auction they have coming up October 28.

Jerry Blassingame is founder of Soteria, a Greenville-based nonprofit community development corporation that provides re-entry training to the formerly incarcerated.

How a Greenville native’s Soteria ministry helps men released from prison find their way.

We are in a very difficult time right now: a pandemic, civil unrest, a financial crisis. Our country was already divided due to religious and political beliefs, and now the highly published George Floyd murder makes civil unrest worse. Given all of this, how do we find solidarity within our nation and communities and reclaim the unity our founding fathers shared as they sought freedom from what they felt was oppressive?

Rebuilding a life is never easy, but the current public health crisis has compounded the issues faced by returning citizens. They are already subject to more than 44,000 legal restrictions on things like where they can live and what kind of work they can do, and two-thirds will be arrested again within three years nationwide. Now they are being ordered to shelter in place —unable to complete some of the most basic tasks for starting over. Without swift action from lawmakers, we run the chance of seeing even more disappointing reentry outcomes.

If we understand our history, we can figure out how we got here and undo this mess. If we follow the money, we can always figure out the problem. In order to get votes and keep power, we had to oppress the black people in this country. Jerry, that was 233 years ago. Black people have come a long way since then. Yes, but the power structure has not changed. America supported slavery and did it in God’s name by twisting scripture. “Slaves obey your masters in everything you do. Try to please them all the time, not just when they are watching you. Serve them sincerely because of your reverent fear of the Lord.” Colossians 3:22 NLT. The government started it, and the church supported it. Just as we all watched the murder of George Floyd, they all watched the oppression of a people even until today.

So, how do we reconcile 400 years of oppression? Are reparations the answer? We all know that equal rights and having the access to equity are on opposite ends of the spectrum. First of all, must acknowledge that mass incarceration is a direct path from slavery due to poverty.

A person with a mental illness is more likely to be incarcerated than to receive medical help. We incarcerate about two million people a year who have some sort of mental illness. My story is a prime example: as a young five-year old boy, my mother was murdered in the room next to me. No one ever counseled me or my siblings about the trauma we experienced. I lived my entire childhood with undiagnosed PTSD.