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Friday, March 29, 2024

LINC to farming: sowing and reaping

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By K.J. Williams

Contributing Writer

A Wilmington-based program for ex-offenders providing a supportive around-the-clock environment encompassing living facilities and meaningful work has grown steadily since its inception in 2000.

Frankie Roberts, 50, the director of the nonprofit Leading Into New Communities Inc. (LINC), estimated as of mid-2014, about 1,600 men and women completed its reentry program. LINC’s reentry program for men and women who have been incarcerated provides transitional living facilities and extensive support to men and women just released from prison. In the last decade, 88 percent of LINC participants have remained out of prison, he said.

The program offers cognitive behavior therapy, case management, computer training, education services, health and medical services and job training, as well as assistance finding employment.

Roberts started the program 15 years ago out of the back of his barbershop on Castle Street in Wilmington as a way of making amends for his inability to tell his older brother, an addict, he had forgiven him.

The namesake of the Marvin E. Roberts Transitional Living Facility is Frankie Roberts’ late brother, who died at age 49, following minor surgery. Marvin Roberts served twice in the Vietnam War, where he acquired an addiction to heroin he could not shake. Frankie Roberts was on his way to tell his elder brother of his change of heart toward him when he got a phone call. Marvin had died at the hospital.

Out of that experience, Roberts forged LINC with cofounder Tracey Ray. She remains supportive but has since joined another nonprofit.

At the barbershop, the pair assisted ex-offenders. The residential program for men on Castle Street started in 2007 because it was clear a more expansive program was needed.

“They had burnt their bridges with their family and friends and needed a place to live,” Roberts said.

The nonprofit expanded its residential services to include women in 2012 when LINC completed renovations to the property it leases from New Hanover County for $1 annually. Currently, it can house 20 men and 20 women. There is a waiting list for the men, but not for the women. The average length of stay is six months.

As part of a new grant-funded partnership with Coastal Horizons Center Inc., LINC will soon provide beds in its reentry program for some of the women receiving treatment at the center for substance abuse and mental health issues. Roberts said the city of Wilmington applied for the $600,000 U.S. Department of Justice grant.

Located in New Hanover County near Wilmington International Airport, the small campus-like setting is serene, while also buzzing with activity. The men and women help offset the program’s cost by working at one of the LINC jobs, including beekeeping. The beekeepers tend the beehives and collect the honey to sell.

“Last spring, we harvested about 130 pounds,” Roberts said.

Workers at the Urban Farm tend the onsite vegetable garden, which provides the reentry program with vegetables, and also vegetables for sale and for charity. Collard greens, kale and onions were the recent bounty. Broccoli and cabbage transplants followed.

“We just harvested all of the vegetables and we’re getting ready for the spring crop,” Roberts said in mid-March. “The reason we started the Urban Farm when we moved here is because all of life is based on the law of farming — whatever a man will sow, he shall also reap.”

Roberts compares the people to a garden. If the invasive negative influences on people’s lives are weeded out, there will be growth.

Jody Lopez, 31, is an artist, and a former incarcerated addict. She painted colorful flowers around inspirational sayings on wooden posts to decorate the garden.

“I have people to keep me focused. I have a safe place,” Lopez said of the reentry program. “This is like a home. Home is where you can find some peace.”

Other onsite workers include those on the kitchen detail or maintenance crew. Workers also help out at LINC’s thrift shop, Déjà Vu, located at 907 Castle St. The money earned through a lawn care service also is designated for the program. After 60 days, the men and women can pursue employment offsite or enroll in school, if they are ready, Roberts said.

Ronald Davis, 25, was incarcerated for uttering a forged instrument, and thinks he can turn his life around with the support he finds here.

“If you expect change to happen in your life, you have to make a conscious choice to change your ways,” Davis said.

LINC also works with African-American males between 16 and 21 through its LINC Initiative to Educate (LITE) Manhood program at its downtown Wilmington site, established in 2007, which provides daily assistance focused on academics and employment.

The nonprofit relies on donations and funding, including support from Cape Fear Workforce Development Board, Cape Fear Memorial Foundation, the city of Wilmington, New Hanover County, and the North Carolina Governor’s Crime Commission. For information, call 910-762-4635.

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