Double Your Investment in PEP

Help PEP earn dollar-for-dollar matching funds on May 20! Make your donation by visiting DonorBridge (www.donorbridgetx.org).

DonorBridge at donorbridgetx.org, a new online resource for nonprofit supporters, is debuting to the public on May 20, 2009. On launch day, online public donations via credit card will be matched in the amount of one dollar for every dollar through DonorBridge, while matching funds last. The minimum gift is $25 and the maximum matching contribution per individual is $2,500. With your help, it’s possible that PEP could raise at least $50,000 on May 20. We appreciate your support! Contact Andrew Kramer, akramer@pep.org for more information.

Catherine Rohr on Fox Business!

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Class XI hosts Venture Capital Panel

(A Class XI participant presenting to an executive panel during the event.)

On Friday, April 3 the Prison Entrepreneurship Program hosted the Venture Capital Panel event at the Cleveland Correctional Center. The Class XI participants pitched their preliminary business concepts to a panel of executive guests to determine feasibility. The guests provided valuable feedback on their ideas prior to participants committing to writing a specific business plan, which will help set their course for the rest of the class. This was the first event where the class participants had given a presentation for free world guests. Despite nerves, the Lollipop Eleven stood up to the challenge.

Executives who attended the event share their impressions:
"Venture Capital night was a great opportunity for Class XI to showcase their excitement, not only about their business plans, but about PEP. Their enthusiasm was contagious! They were thirsty for the knowledge shared by the MBAs and veteran executive volunteers, and you could feel the renewed sense of hope that graced the lives of these men. It's an honor to volunteer with PEP and watch these aspiring entrepreneurs on their personal journey of growth." - Allison Schlender, Senior Sales Executive, Coca-Cola North America

"PEP transforms lives by using the innate desire to make your life into something productive, camaraderie with other inmates (to help you get “over the bars”), and superior guidance from skilled business professionals ... all in a climate of faith and trust in God. This program impacts and changes lives - behind and outside the bars." -Brady McConaty, First time prison visitor, President & CEO, Venoco

Interested in attending an event in prison? Contact Lani Caffey, lcaffey@pep.org

Mini Workshop

(Baylor Business Women with Class XI.)

Following the Venture Capital Panel event, PEP hosted a mini MBA workshop on Saturday, April 4. In attendance were the Baylor Business Women and University of Dallas MBA students. The Baylor and UD students assisted the Class XI participants with their business plan ideas, discussed resumes and participated in several on-one-one sessions.

The Baylor Business Women (BBW), a Christian organization designed to promote professional and personal growth, have adopted PEP as their philanthropy project. Melanie Smith, the BBW sponsor brought close to 20 women from her organization to participate in the workshop.

Dr. John Watters, the Director of the Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Dallas, has served as a long-time PEP volunteer. Thanks to his efforts the University of Dallas now offers a unique elective class for their MBA students which focuses on preparing MBAs to serve as business plan advisors for PEP participants. Allison Schlender, another veteran PEP volunteer and University of Dallas MBA, not only teaches the course, but also organizes clothing drives and social events at the Dallas PEP halfway house.

PEP would like to offer a big thank you to Melanie Smith, Dr. Watters, Allison Schlender, the Baylor Business Women and the University of Dallas MBAs for their time and effort!

Straight from the Inside

Class XI is off to a great start. Participants are working hard, and growing through their bonds with one another, their studies and their desire for personal transformation. Hear straight from the Class about their challenges and victories in our journal archive. Read about their experience at Venture Capital Panel with executive volunteers and much more. Here's an excerpt from Week 4:

"Learning to trust means learning to share. All too often we are forced to share in experiences that we would rather not. Fortunately these experiences usually turn out to be the catalyst for change. A wise man once said “in all labor there is profit.” But one man’s work is another man’s play. How then, one may ask, can we safely hold each other accountable?"

Read More Journals Here