A DIFFERENT PATH

Each year, thousands of the nearly 100,000 people held in state prisons are released, with many facing uncertain, difficult futures. One local program — Second Chance — helps former inmates turn their lives around. Below, a program client explains how men

If someone would have asked me about mentorship prior to 2018, I would have rolled my eyes and expressed disinterest. Before 2018, the mere mention of the words mentor or mentorship evoked a sense of weakness and helplessness within me. I was raised essentially to fend for myself. I had to work for what I needed and wanted and if I was unable to get what I needed, I had to do without it.

That mindset worked for the better part of my life until 2018. In June of that year, my life changed forever. I committed a crime, confessed and was sentenced to seven years at the California Institution for Women in Corona. Once placed in a padded cell, surrounded by screams, cries and angry shouts, the old version of me died.

Along with that symbolic death went my skewed logic of not asking for help and not lowering barriers to trust others. While in a place meant to punish me, I chose to rediscover the Chloe that got lost and made it my mission to become the best version of myself. I enrolled in college

Williams is Southwestern College Restorative Justice student services specialist and lives in San Diego.

for the first time and found that I love it. I began working at the prison library as a clerk and realized I wanted to become a librarian. I even became a certified electrical systems technician with the National Center for Construction Education and Research. For four years and eight months, I learned who I was, what I

wanted to be and what I needed to do to continue being the best version of myself.

I was paroled Nov. 17, 2022, with $331 to my name in one of the most expensive cities in the country, but I was motivated and determined to achieve the goals that I had set for myself. On Monday, Nov. 21, I showed up at Second Chance and asked if

I could attend their Job Readiness Training class that was starting that morning.

Since that day, I have been on a forward trajectory accomplishing things I never thought were possible. Estela Nuñez, the amazing Job Readiness Training instructor, laid essential groundwork for me. She instructed the class in a way that I felt comfortable enough opening up. I stood in the front of the class and performed a mock interview where I was able to professionally explain the gap in my resume. The most significant thing I learned from Estela was sharing my story, my truth. Since Nov. 21, 2022, I have stood in front of hundreds of people and shared my truth with my head held high.

I bonded with so many people at Second Chance. I was Estela’s unofficial teacher’s aide. I cleaned the kitchen and helped other students using the computers. I had meaningful conversations with staff that was genuinely interested in what I had to say.

The Job Readiness Training program manager, Scott Taylor, and I bonded over the University of San Diego. This is the university I want to transfer to for fall 2024 and Scott has helped me with recommendation letters and neat spots to study on campus. I also found it very

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MYONG HONG PHOTOS Howard Foster, a Second Chance senior manager, helps Mark Jordan, a graduate of Second Chance’s Job Readiness Training program.

Second Chance participants welcome visitors and sell produce to the public from 3 to 5 p.m. every Thursday at the program’s Youth Garden.