Launching Entrepreneurs
/True Freedom’s Executive Director, Mike Swiger, and the staff at Grafton Correctional Institution joined forces with John Carroll University to launch the Prison Entrepreneurship Program this spring. Seven students traveled to Grafton once a week, for 13 weeks, to help incarcerated men work on their business ideas. Using the award-winning Experiential Entrepreneurship Curriculum, students identified each participant’s interests, skills, and passions. Together, inmates and students developed business plans for students to bring to life.
Teams worked on brainstorming and evaluating ideas, identifying ideal customers, business modeling, revenue models and pricing, developing a minimum viable product, and designing and running experiments. Students worked on customer interviews. The goal is to create a revenue-generating opportunity for each man upon release. In addition to helping with financial obligations, this program will encourage ex-inmates to find meaning in their work and to realize the value of their interests and skills. As students finish their semester-long course, these projects will be passed off to new students, who will continue to work toward establishing each business and finding paying customers. Here’s what people are saying about this exciting initiative:
“Taking the prison entrepreneurship class at JCU has been one of the most influential experiences of my four years here. It shifted my perspective on the prison system profoundly, as I witnessed the kindness and gratitude of individuals with whom I collaborated. These incarcerated adults are driven to start their own businesses upon release, which is truly inspiring.” -Karie, John Carroll student
“I am so grateful for the education and guidance that the JCU-Grafton Impact Entrepreneurship Program has given me. This class was awesome, helping me identify what I need to know to start my own business. This is such a huge opportunity to take a business idea I’ve had for years and turn it into reality.” -Louis, GCI inmate
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