The day I went to prison…..
I stood at the gate in the large fence waiting for someone to notice me. “How can I help you?” came the voice over the intercom. “My name is Andrew Jackson. I’m from the Accelerator Centre and I’m here to run the Entrepreneur Session.” I replied. The gate buzzed and I walked through the gate, went up the path and entered the building. I handed over my identification, signed in and then passed through a metal detector. Five minutes later I stood at the front of a classroom with 25 women waiting for me to start talking. “Good morning” I said. “Good morning.” came the reply from the women of Grand Valley Institution for Women (GVI).
This past Saturday was the third year I have gone to Grand Valley Institution as a representative of the Accelerator Centre in order to deliver four 2-hour sessions over two weekends to the women. It has quickly become a highlight of the year for me and the numerous volunteers that help teach the course.
The Accelerator Centre is a business incubator for tech companies where we are paid to provide facilities and programming in order to help start-up companies speed up the process of becoming large, sustainable, revenue generating entities. So the inevitable question is “Why do you go to Grand Valley?” The short answer is: “because the women let us.”
Three years ago Jessica Hutchison, a hard-working and passionate person from the Region of Waterloo, approached the Accelerator Centre to see if we would be interested in presenting an entrepreneurial course to the women at GVI. After some internal discussions we agreed we would do it.
Our first chore was to figure out what the content of the sessions would be. We have done presentations numerous times before on why people should become entrepreneurs and the skills and knowledge they need to do so. It was very important to us that we didn’t simplify our sessions for the women but instead we tailored the information to make it appropriate for women who would be looking to form their own company when they left GVI or would be looking to set themselves up for employment after some tough times.
The next thing to do was figure out who would come with us to present the material. Again, it was important to us to bring the same top-notch, experienced people that we would use for any of our presentations. We are very lucky to have CEOs and upper management level people volunteer their weekend time and join us at Grand Valley. As I tell the women, we bring the best available people because we believe they deserve the best available people.
The first year we attended GVI we had 12 women attend the course. The last two years we have had 24 and 25 women, respectively, attend. The women are respectful and polite and ready to learn. None of them have to be there but they choose to be and that means a lot to us.
It is our hope that we are providing the women of Grand Valley Institution with some knowledge that will empower them upon their release. We know that they are in GVI for a variety of reasons and the courts have decided they warranted some form of punishment. But we also know that when they are released from prison they deserve every opportunity to reintegrate into their communities in a positive way. I look forward to the day that I can enter a business that is owned by one of the women that attended our Entrepreneur Sessions.
What impact has this experience had on me personally? Well, this past Friday I had the opportunity to talk to the Waterloo Region Crime Prevention Council about our involvement with the Grand Valley Institution. I am proud to let everybody know about the awesome feeling I get when I see the smiling faces on the women as we shake their hands and give them a certificate of completion for our course.
I had to stop talking three times to choke back my tears. But please keep that part quiet.
Sharing the story of the Accelerator Centre with 50 Friends of Crime Prevention
Author: As Vice President, Client Services, Andrew Jackson leads the educational curriculum for Clients at the Accelerator Centre. In addition, Andrew manages the celebrated in-house mentorship program, an essential component of the Accelerator Program. As clients seek to grow their business knowledge and develop essential skills, Andrew connects them with the resources necessary for their business to achieve long term success.