‘Aspire’ Program Puts Ex-Offenders On Path to Entrepreneurship
“Even with trauma and hurt and pain, we can still overcome,” said one of the formerly incarcerated people who presented business pitches for their own companies at a recent D.C. event. The favored entrepreneur took home $10,000 in grant money.
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Photo by Olearys via Flickr
Nearly three dozen formerly incarcerated people presented business pitches in a competition through the city’s Aspire program, which offers help to entrepreneurial ex-offenders, the Washington Post reported.
Among the presenters, all of whom were competing for the top prize of $10,000 in grant money, was Kwabena A. Nkrumah, who presented his pitch for a company that picks up used vehicles at government auctions and flips them for a profit.
Nkrumah was last incarcerated in 2007 for a five-year term. Since then, he launched TJ motors, aiming for a return of around 15 percent per vehicle, which have ranged from work vans to luxury cars.
He said he would use the prize money to pay for more auto mechanics, obtain a dealer’s license and invest in a car lot or garage to store vehicles he currently parks on the street.
Other participants in last weekend’s Washington, D.C. event, included Anthony Foster who promoted his post-construction company, CleanMyPlace Maintenance and Recycling, and Antonio White, who pitched a fiber-optic installation company called Reliable Optical Solutions Enterprise.
A winner has yet to be announced. But each of the participants, all D.C. residents who completed a 12-week course sponsored by the Department of Small and Local Business Development, received at least a $2,000 grant.
Rylinda Rhodes showed off her line of homemade soaps and skin care products, which were wrapped in packaging decorated with inspirational sayings like “Embracing, Not Erasing” and “Celebrate, Not Ruminate.”
“Even with trauma and hurt and pain, we can still overcome,” she told the Post before making her pitch.
The panel of judges included Kristi C. Whitfield, a former entrepreneur whose agency oversees the Aspire program, along with city officials and private business people.
The program offers introductory classes on accounting and marketing, which help some participants discover they would rather enter a field through an existing company rather than start their own business. Created in 2016, Aspire has graduated about 60 entrepreneurs and grown bigger every year, Whitfield said.
Before she became the city department’s director, Whitfield was an entrepreneur herself, co-founding Curbside Cupcakes, D.C.’s first cupcake food truck.
“I’m really proud of the Aspire program,” she said.
This summary was prepared by TCR Justice Reporting intern Eva Herscowitz.
