#85 Change the Inner Person First - Marq Mitchell, Chainless Change

In South Florida, Marq Mitchell heads an organization that helps those unfairly impacted by the criminal justice system by providing support, education and assistance re-entering society at a successful level. Marq knows the criminal justice system well, having "entered" it at age 13. Lots of challenges and deficits to work through and when he tried to re-enter society, had no support. Once he got himself on his feet, he decided that he wanted to help others facing the same situation. Having never had an advocate as a youngster, he tended to lash out at most everyone as a defense reaction. With every decision based on survival, his choices were not always good and was in and out of incarceration through his 20's. Out of the prison system, he got involved in pushing a bill to allow ex-felons to vote after their debt to society is paid. The bill passed by Marq lost his job over it, so he started his own organization, Chainless Change. The difference between his organization and others? CC does more than just trying to place ex-incarcerated in a job. They help those people address their immediate needs to prepare them to take a job and be a good citizen. Felony Inc Podcast with your host Mark Gailey We record the Felony Inc Podcast inside NedSpace in the Bigfoot Podcast Studio in beautiful downtown Portland. Audio engineer, mixer and podcast editor is Allon Beausoleil Show logo was designed by Carolyn Main Website was designed by Cameron Grimes Production assistant is Chelsea Lancaster Theme music "Free" written and recorded by Dave Dahl, all rights reserved, motherfuckers This weeks podcast brought to you in part by soap-on-a-rope, when you don't want to drop stuff Felony Inc Podcast supports City Central Concern at centralcityconcern.org 10% of gross revenue at Startup Radio Network goes to support women entrepreneurs in developing countries thru kiva.org/lender/markgrimes Listen to the Felony Inc Podcast live on-air every Friday at 10:00am pacific time on Startup Radio Network at startupradionetwork.com