Bill Livolsi is a member of our White Collar Support Group that meets online on Zoom on Monday evenings. We will celebrate our 250th weekly meeting on Monday, March 29, 2021, 7 pm ET, 4 pm PT; all Fellow Travelers are invited.
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Many reading this know the fear of seeing their name on a federal indictment. Many also know the fear and anxiety of standing before a US magistrate judge having to answer the question “How do you plead?” I crossed these thresholds in Dec 2013 and Jan 2014. It was then that I began to understand that the world as I knew it would be forever changed. Thankfully I found Jeff Grant and his ministry soon after.
Many have shared their gratitude for Jeff and the community he has created for men and women like us. I’ve written previously, here and here, about meeting Jeff and how he has helped me countless times to navigate this journey.
The first White Collar Support Group meeting I attended was in May, 2016 (the WCSG’s 2nd meeting!). Having previously been sentenced to 24 months incarceration in April 2015, I was on deferred reporting status while my co-defendant was serving their time. I don’t remember much of the details of what we discussed that night, but I do remember feeling relieved at the openness of those in attendance and their willingness to welcome me to the community. And as I reflect back on the weeks, months and years since that first meeting I have become more at ease, more willing to share my experiences, made some wonderful friendships, and I have learned the skills to be of help those who need it.
This time last year, I was 12 months into my sentence. One morning I received an email (Federal prison camps have email systems called Corrlinks) from Jeff letting me know that in a few weeks our group would be celebrating its 200th meeting. And while we both knew that I wouldn’t be able to attend, I wasn’t sad, quite the opposite. Jeff’s email was a wonderful reminder that our community was still there for me.
I look forward to celebrating our 250th meeting with everyone on March 29, 2021. Congratulations all!
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White Collar Week Podcast: An Evening with Our White Collar Support Group. The support group meeting on this podcast is different than most, because all of the 16 group members appearing have agreed to share their names, faces and very personal stories in an effort to reach out to individuals and families suffering in silence. All on the podcast are post-sentencing or back from prison. Watch on YouTube, Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and SoundCloud,link here.
On Friday, Apr. 16, 2021, 9 am, Glenn E. Martin gets real! Glenn, Founder and Senior Consultant at GEMTrainers/GEM Real Estate and Founder and former President of JustLeadershipUSA, was our guest on Criminal Justice Insider with Babz Rawls Ivy & Jeff Grant – The Voice of CT Criminal Justice. Live on WNHH 103.5 FM New Haven and live-streaming at newhavenindependent.org. Rebroadcast at 5 pm. Sponsored by the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven and Progressive Prison Ministries.
Watch on YouTube:
Listen on Apple Podcasts:
Listen on SoundCloud:
Guests on this episode:
Glenn E. Martin is the Founder and Senior Consultant at GEMTrainers. Before founding his consulting firm, Glenn E. Martin founded and served as President of JustLeadershipUSA, an organization dedicated to cutting the U.S. correctional population in half by 2030. For almost 20 years, he has been part of the vanguard of successful advocates and non-profit leaders in America.
His inspirational leadership has been recognized with multiple honors, including the 2016 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award, the 2017 Brooke Astor Award, and the 2014 Echoing Green Fellowship. Prior to founding JustLeadershipUSA, he was the Vice President of The Fortune Society, where he founded and led the David Rothenberg Center for Public Policy. He also served as the Co-Director of the National HIRE Network at the Legal Action Center, and is a co-founder of the Education from the Inside Out Coalition. Glenn is also the founder of the #CLOSErikers campaign in NYC.
Glenn’s bold, unflinching leadership is recognized by leaders from across the political spectrum. He is a sought after public speaker and a frequent media guest appearing on national news outlets such as NPR, MSNBC, Fox News, CNN, Al Jazeera and CSPAN.
Criminal Justice Insider with Babz Rawls Ivy and Jeff Grant is broadcast live at 9 am (ET) on the first and third Friday of each month from the WNHH 103.5 FM studios in New Haven, live-streamed everywhere at newhavenindependent.org. It is also on live on Facebook Live (video) at https://www.facebook.com/wnhhradio. It is rebroadcast on WNHH at 5 pm the same day. Find all of our shows archived on SoundCloud at https://soundcloud.com/new-haven…/…/criminal-justice-insider. An article about each show is published a few days later in the New Haven Independent (newhavenindependent.org).
Sponsored by the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven and Progressive Prison Prison Ministries, Inc.
Please tell your friends, colleagues and clients:
The Criminal Justice Insider Podcast with Babz Rawls Ivy and Jeff Grant is broadcast live at 9 am ET on the first and third Friday of each month from the WNHH 103.5 FM studios in New Haven. It is rebroadcast on WNHH at 5 pm ET the same day.
Jeff Krantz is a member of our White Collar Support Group that meets online on Zoom on Monday evenings. We will celebrate our 250th weekly meeting on Monday, March 29, 2021, 7 pm ET, 4 pm PT; all Fellow Travelers are invited.
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I met Jeff 5 years after I had pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and two years after I cleared probation. I reached out to him as a result of having found myself heavily burdened by the implications that my conviction had placed upon me and my family. There was no aspect of my life which hadn’t been touched by my experience of being prosecuted by the government. At a point when I thought I would have put the ordeal of my conviction behind me, I found myself more confused, isolated and lost than ever.
In my initial conversation with Jeff I recounted the events leading to my conviction and described the details surrounding my present circumstances. Jeff was an astute and thoughtful listener who left space for me to get through the story in my own time. His personal experience informed our conversation with compassion, empathy and understanding.It was, perhaps, the first time I had been able to recount the events without being asked to explain my thinking or justify my actions. I breathed a little more freely knowing that the person I was speaking to had first hand knowledge of what I had been through.
Jeff suggested that I participate in the Monday night White Collar support group where I could engage with others who had become similarly embroiled in the criminal justice system and who were at various stages of processing their experiences.
The weekly meeting is populated by a diverse group whose reliable wisdom, respite and thoughtful help, informs each session. Through their listening and the open sharing of their experiences an alchemy of healing is evinced.
Though I am still early to the group, I have found it to be a supportive, welcoming environment from which I can begin to rebuild.
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White Collar Week Podcast: An Evening with Our White Collar Support Group. The support group meeting on this podcast is different than most, because all of the 16 group members appearing have agreed to share their names, faces and very personal stories in an effort to reach out to individuals and families suffering in silence. All on the podcast are post-sentencing or back from prison. Watch on YouTube, Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and SoundCloud,link here.