Link here to Podcast Ep. 20: Glenn E. Martin & Richard Bronson: Reinventing Yourself After Prison
Link here to Podcast Ep. 19: Insider Trading Charges Dismissed, with Guest Richard Lee
Link here to Podcast Ep. 18: Is Your Life a Movie? The Producers, with Guests: Lydia B. Smith, Bethany Jones & Will Nix
Link here to Podcast Ep. 17: #TruthHeals: Systemic Abuse & Institutional Reform with Vanessa Osage, feat. Guest Co-Host Chloe Coppola
Link here to Podcast Ep. 16: Politicians, Prison & Penitence, with Guest: Bridgeport, CT Mayor Joseph Ganim
Link here to Podcast Ep. 15: A Brave Talk About Suicide, with Guests Bob Flanagan, Elizabeth Kelley, & Meredith Atwood
Link here to Podcast Ep. 14: Recovery & Neighborhood, with Guest: TNP’s Tom Scott
Link here to Podcast Ep. 13: Everything but Bridgegate, with Guest: Bill Baroni
Link here to Podcast Ep. 12: The Truth Tellers, with Guests: Holli Coulman & Larry Levine
Link here to Podcast Ep. 11: The Blank Canvas, with Guest: Craig Stanland
Link here to Podcast Ep. 10: The Ministers, with Guests: Father Joe Ciccone & Father Rix Thorsell
Link here to Podcast Ep. 09: Small Business Edition, with Guest: Taxgirl Kelly Phillips Erb
Link here to Podcast Ep. 08: The Academics, with Guests: Cathryn Lavery, Jessica Henry, Jay Kennedy & Erin Harbinson
Link here to Podcast Ep. 07: White Collar Wives. with Guests: Lynn Springer, Cassie Monaco & Julie Bennett. Special Guest: Skylar Cluett
Link here to Podcast Ep. 06: Madoff Talks, with Guest: Jim Campbell
Link here to Podcast Ep. 05: Trauma and Healing when Mom goes to Prison, with Guests: Jacqueline Polverari and Her Daughters, Alexa & Maria
Link here to Podcast Ep. 04: One-on-One with Tipper X: Tom Hardin
Link here to Podcast Ep. 03: Compassionate Lawyering: Guests, Chris Poulos, Corey Brinson, Bob Herbst & George Hritz
Link here to Podcast Ep. 02: Substance Abuse & Recovery During COVID-19: Guests, Trevor Shevin & Joshua Cagney
Link here to Podcast Ep. 01: Prison & Reentry in the Age of COVID-19: An Evening with Our White Collar Support Group.
Link here to Podcast Ep. 00: White Collar Week with Jeff Grant: What is White Collar Week?
Welcome to White Collar Week, a podcast serving the white collar justice community. It’s the isolation that destroys us. The solution is in community.
If you are interested in this podcast, then you are probably already a member of the white collar justice community – even if you don’t quite know it yet. Our community is certainly made up of people being prosecuted, or who have already been prosecuted, for white collar crimes. But it is also made up of the spouses, children and families of those prosecuted for white collar crimes – these are the first victims of white collar crime. And the community also consists the other victims, both direct and indirect, and those in the wider white collar ecosystem like friends, colleagues, prosecutors, defense attorneys, judges, law enforcement, academics, researchers. Investigators, mitigation experts, corrections officers, reentry professionals, mental health care professionals, drug and alcohol counselors, – and ministers, chaplains and advocates for criminal and social justice reform. The list goes on and on…
In this very eventful summer 2020, our mission is to introduce you to other members of the white collar justice community, to hear their very personal stories, and hopefully gain a broader perspective of what this is really all about. Maybe this will inspire some deeper thoughts and introspection? Maybe it will inspire some empathy and compassion for people you might otherwise resent or dismiss? And maybe it will help lift us all out of our own isolation and into community, so we can learn to live again in the sunshine of the spirit.
Along the way, I’ll share with you some of the things I’ve learned in my own journey from successful lawyer, to prescription opioid addict, white collar crime, suicide attempt, disbarment, destruction of my marriage, and the almost 14 months I served in a Federal prison. And also my recovery, love story I share with my wife Lynn Springer, after prison earning a Master of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary in NYC, pastoring in an inner city church in Bridgeport CT, and then co-founding with Lynn in Greenwich CT, Progressive Prison Ministries, the world’s first ministry serving the white collar justice community. It’s been quite a ride, but I firmly believe that the best is yet to come.
So I invite you to come along with me as we experience something new, and bold, and different this summer – a podcast that serves the entire white collar justice community. I hope you will join me.
Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc. is the world’s first ministry supporting the white collar justice community. Founded by husband and wife, Jeff Grantand Lynn Springer in Greenwich CT in 2012, we incorporated as a nonprofit in Connecticut in 2014, and received 501(c)(3) status in 2015. Jeff has over three decades of experience in crisis management, business, law (former), reentry, recovery (clean & sober 17+ years), and executive and religious leadership. As Jeff was incarcerated for a white-collar crime he committed in 2001, he and Lynn have a first-hand perspective on the trials and tribulations that white-collar families have to endure as they navigate the criminal justice system and life beyond.
Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc. is nonsectarian, serving those of all faiths, or no faith whatsoever. To date we have helped over three hundred fifty (350) individuals, and their families, to accept responsibility for their actions and to acknowledge the pain they have caused to others. In accordance with our commitment to restorative justice, we counsel our members to make amends as a first step in changing their lives and moving towards a new spiritual way of living centered on hope, care, compassion, tolerance, empathy and service to others. Our team has grown to over ten people, most with advanced degrees, all of whom are currently volunteering their time and resources.
Progressive Prison Ministries’ goal is to provide spiritual solutions and emotional support to those who are feeling alone, isolated, and hopeless. We have found that these individuals are suffering from a void but are stuck, and don’t know what to do about it. Our objective is to help them find a path to a healthy, spirit-filled place on the other side of what may seem like insurmountable problems. Many of those we counsel are in a place where their previous lives have come to an end due to their transgressions. In many cases their legal problems have led to divorce, estrangement from their children, families, friends and support communities, and loss of a career. The toll this takes on individuals and families is emotionally devastating. White-collar crimes are often precipitated by other issues in the offenders’ lives such as alcohol or drug abuse, and/or a physical or mental illness that lead to financial issues that overwhelms their ability to be present for themselves and their families and cause poor decision making. We recognize that life often presents us with such circumstances, sometimes which lead us to make mistakes in violation of the law.
All conversations and communications between our ordained ministry, and licensed clinical relationships, and those we serve fall under state privilege laws. This is one reason that attorneys often allow and encourage their clients to maintain relationships with us while in active prosecution or litigation situations.
If you, a friend, family member, colleague or client are suffering from a white collar criminal justice issue or are experiencing some other traumatic or life-altering event, and would like to find a path to a healthy, spirit-filled place on the other side of what seems like insurmountable problems, please contact us to schedule an initial call or appointment.
Copyright 2020, All Rights Reserved, Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc.
On Friday, June 19, 2020, 9 am ET, we hosted our special 2-Hour Season Three Wrap Show on the Criminal Justice Insider Podcast with Babz Rawls Ivy & Jeff Grant – The Voice of CT Criminal Justice. We invited all of our wonderful guests from our first three incredible seasons, guest list below! Live on WNHH 103.5 FM New Haven, rebroadcast at 5 pm. Live-streamed and podcast 24/7 everywhere, see below. Sponsored by the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven.
Watch on YouTube:
Listen on SoundCloud:
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 Sept.-June From the WNHH 103.5 FM studios in New Haven. It is rebroadcast on WNHH at 5 pm ET the same day. Live-Streamed and Podcast available 24/7.
An article about each show is published a few days later in the New Haven Independent (newhavenindependent.org).
Season One Guests:
Nov. 3, 2017: Robyn Porter, CT State Legislator
Nov. 17, 2017: Scott Semple, Former CT Commissioner of Correction
Dec. 1, 2017: Amy Smoyer (Asst. Professor of Social Work, Southern Connecticut State University) and Jackie Lucibello, New Haven Women’s Resettlement Working Group
Dec. 15, 2017: Lorenzo Jones, Co-Executive Director, Katal Center for Health, Equity and Justice
Jan. 19, 2018: Cynthia Farrar, Co-Founder of Purple States and Producer of Life on Parole
Feb. 16, 2018: Danielle Cooper, Director of Research for the Tow Youth Justice Institute, University of New Haven
Mar. 2, 2018: Joseph Ganim, Mayor of Bridgeport, CT
Mar. 16, 2018: John Santa, Chair of Malta Justice Initiative and Member of CT Sentencing Commission
Apr. 6, 2018: Brent Peterkin, CT Director, Project Longevity & Board Chair, The Phoenix Association
Apr. 20, 2018: Scot X. Esdaile, President of NAACP CT, Chair of NAACP National Criminal Justice & Da’ee McKnight, Family ReEntry
May 4, 2018: Earl Bloodworth, Director, Bridgeport Mayor’s Initiative for Reentry Affairs (MIRA)
May 18, 2018: Jacqueline Polverari, ED of Evolution Family Reentry Services
June 1, 2018: Mike Lawlor, CT, Former Undersecretary for Criminal Justice Policy & Planning, University of New Haven
June 15, 2018: James Forman, Jr., Pulitzer Prize Winning Author & Yale Law Professor
July 6, 2018: Bill Carbone & Erika Nowakowski, Tow Youth Justice Institute, University of New Haven
Season Two Guests:
Fri., Sept. 9, 2018: Kennard Ray, Blue Ribbon Strategies, CT Unlock the Vote
Fri., Sept. 21, 2018: Louis L. Reed, National Organizer for #Cut50
Fri., Oct. 5, 2018: Sue Gunderman (Hartford Interim Director of Reentry Services) & Beth Hines (Executive Director, Community Partners in Action), CT Reentry Roundtables
Fri., Oct. 19, 2018: Venezia Michalsen, Assoc. Professor of Justice Studies, Montclair State University
Fri., Nov. 16, 2018: Andrew Clark, Director of the Institute for Municipal and Regional Policy, Central Connecticut State University and Bill Dyson, Former CT State Legislator and Justice Advocate
Fri., Dec. 7, 2018: Glenn E. Martin, Founder/Consultant of GEM Trainers and Past- President and Founder of JustLeadershipUSA
Fri., Dec. 21, 2018: Fernando Muñiz, CEO of Community Solutions, Inc. and Rosa Correa, Community Leader
Fri., Jan. 19, 2019: Peter J. Henning, Professor of Law, Wayne State University & “White Collar Watch” Columnist, NY Times
Fri., Feb. 1, 2019: Jeffrey Deskovic, CEO of The Jeffrey Deskovic Foundation who was Exonerated after Serving 16 Years in Prison
Fri., Feb. 15, 2019: Jeffrey Abramowitz, Executive Director for Reentry Services, JEVS Human Services, Philadelphia
Fri., Mar. 1, 2019, Rollin Cook, CT Commissioner of Correction
Fri., Mar. 15, 2019: Dieter Tejada, National Justice Impact Bar Association
Fri., Apr. 5, 2019: John Rowland, Former CT Governor
Fri., Apr. 19, 2019: Gregg D. Caruso, Ph.D. Professor of Philosophy at SUNY Corning & Co-Director of the Justice Without Retribution Network at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland
Fri., May 3, 2019: Michael Taylor, CEO of Cornell Scott-Hill Health Center in the Greater New Haven area
Fri., May 17, 2019: Tarra Simmons, Esq., Director, Civil Survival and Candidate for Washington State Legislature
Fri., June 7, 2019: Louis L. Reed, National Organizer for #Cut50, Part Deux!
Fri., June 21, 2019: Marcus Bullock, CEO of Flikshop
Season Three Guests:
Fri., Sept. 6, 2019: Khalil Cumberbatch, Chief Strategist, New Yorkers United for Justice
Fri., Sept. 20, 2019: Aaron T. Kinzel, Lecturer in Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Michigan-Dearborn
Fri., Oct. 4, 2019: Charlie Grady, Outreach Specialist for the FBI CT Community Outreach Program
Fri., Oct. 18, 2019: Michael Kimelman, Former Hedge Funder and Author of Confessions of a Wall Street Insider: A Cautionary Tale of Rats, Feds, and Banksters
Fri., Nov. 1, 2019: Corey Brinson, CEO, Second Chance Firm, NY Policy Assoc., Legal Action Center
Fri., Nov. 15, 2019: Cathryn Lavery, Ph.D., Asst. Chair & Graduate Coordinator for the Iona College Criminal Justice Department
Fri. Dec. 20, 2019: John Hamilton, CEO, Liberation Programs
Fri., Jan. 3, 2020: Reginald Dwayne Betts, Lawyer, Poet, Lecturer on Mass Incarceration
Fri., Jan. 17, 2020: Serena Ligouri, Executive Director, New Hour for Women & Children – L.I.
Fri., Feb. 7, 2020: David Garlock, Program Director, New Person Ministries, Lancaster, PA, Featured in Movie “Just Mercy”
Feb. 20, 2020: Larry Levine, Talk Show Host & Criminal Justice Consultant
Fri,. Mar. 6, 2020, Hans Hallundbaek, Interfaith Prison Partnership
Fri., Mar. 20, 2020: Tiheba Bain, Founder, Women Against Incarceration, Director of Coalitions, National Counsel for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women & Girls
Fri., April 3, 2020: Rev. Dr. Chris Kimmenez, Minister and Criminal Justice Advocate
Fri., April 17, 2020: Icy Frantz, Activist, Columnist, Philanthropist
Fri., May 3, 2020: Eilene Zimmerman, Author of “Smacked: A Story of White Collar Ambition, Addiction and Tragedy”.
Fri., May 15, 2020: Scott Semple, Former CT Commissioner of Correction and Alex Frank & John Hart, Vera Institute of Justice
Fri., June 5, 2020: Children of Incarcerated Parents Show with Aileen Keays, Nishka Ayala & Isis DeLoatch
On Friday, June 5, 2020, we hosted our Children of Incarcerated Parents Show with guests Aileen Keays, Nishka Ayala and Isis DeLoatch on the Criminal Justice Insider Podcast with Babz Rawls Ivy & Jeff Grant – The Voice of Criminal Justice. Live on WNHH 103.5 FM New Haven, rebroadcast at 5 pm. Live-streamed and 24/7 podcast everywhere, see below. Live video on Facebook Live. Sponsored by the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven.
Aileen Keays, M.S., is a Project Manager with Central Connecticut State University’s Institute for Municipal & Regional Policy (IMRP). Since IMRP first began to receive funding to support children with incarcerated parents (CIP) in fiscal year 2008, Ms. Keays has directed the Connecticut Children with Incarcerated Parents Initiative (CTCIP).
Through the CTCIP, Ms. Keays oversees several projects related to parental incarceration. This includes supervising the delivery of services to children and families dealing with parental incarceration, as well as the evaluation of these services. Ms. Keays has also managed research investigations to better understand the impact of parental arrest and incarceration on children. She also assists with the development of programs and services for CIP, provides consultation, training and technical assistance for those seeking to support CIP, and oversees CCSU’s Children with Incarcerated Parents Scholarship program.
Ms. Keays has spoken across the country on the topic of CIP as well as overseas, including most recently at the International Coalition for Children with Incarcerated Parents conference. Ms. Keays has published research articles and book chapters on CIP and has been interviewed by various media outlets on the impact of parental incarceration on children, including most recently by BBC World News.
In spite of Ms. Keays’ extensive involvement working on behalf of, and with, those affected by incarceration, she found herself completely unprepared for the effects of having a loved one incarcerated when it encroached into her life. Ms. Keays knows first-hand the devastation that incarceration imposes on loved ones, the importance of in-person contact visits, and phone calls. The experience will forever impact her work for, and with, those affected by incarceration.
Nishka Ayala
My name is Nishka Ayala and I am a Forensic Interviewer at Klingberg Children’s Advocacy Center in Hartford, CT. What I enjoy most about my job is that each day brings different experiences and challenges. I started working with children as a sophomore in college and have been in the field ever since. I graduated from Central Connecticut State University in 2017, with a Bachelor’s in Criminology and Spanish. During my free time, I enjoy spending time outdoors with my loved ones, cooking, and traveling. My goal is to obtain my Master’s degree in Social Work within the next 5 years. Throughout my last years as an undergrad student at CCSU, I had the privilege of being one of the CIP Initiative scholarship recipients. Not only did this scholarship help me financially, but it also gave me the opportunity to share my experience on how I was affected by my father’s incarceration growing up, and to connect with others that have also been affected by the incarceration of a loved one.
Isis DeLoatch
Hello, my name is Isis DeLoatch and I am currently a senior at Central Connecticut State University. I am studying Social Work with a minor in sociology. I am a proud recipient of the IMRP (Children with Incarcerated Parents initiative) annual scholarship. My father was incarcerated for ten years of my life, and throughout my childhood, I successfully dealt with the stigma and adversity that comes with having an incarcerated parent. Throughout my college career, I have had the opportunity to volunteer and collect research on children with incarcerated parents that were presented at the annual NASW conference in 2017. After completing my undergrad this spring as a first-generation college student, I plan to continue my education by obtaining my MSW and LCSW so I can work in the men’s jail system as a licensed clinical social worker and then later building a non-profit health and wellness center.
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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 Sept. through June, from the WNHH 103.5 FM studios in New Haven. It is rebroadcast on WNHH at 5 pm ET the same day. Live-stream and 24/7 podcast available everywhere.
Season Three Program/Guests List (*formerly incarcerated):
Fri., Sept. 6, 2019: Khalil Cumberbatch*, Chief Strategist at New Yorkers United for Justice Fri., Sept. 20, 2019: Aaron T. Kinzel*, Lecturer in Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Michigan-Dearborn Fri., Oct. 4, 2019: Charlie Grady, Outreach Specialist for the FBI CT Community Outreach Program Fri., Oct. 18, 2019: Michael Kimelman*, Former Hedge Funder and Author of Confessions of a Wall Street Insider: A Cautionary Tale of Rats, Feds, and Banksters Fri., Nov. 1, 2019: Corey Brinson*, Former Attorney Convicted for a White Collar Crime who is running for Hartford City Council Fri., Nov. 15, 2019: Cathryn Lavery, Ph.D., Asst. Chair & Graduate Coordinator for the Iona College Criminal Justice Department Fri., Dec. 6, 2019: “Free Prison Phone Calls” Show, Guests CT Rep. Josh Elliott & Tiheba Bain* Fri. Dec. 20, 2019: John Hamilton, CEO, Liberation Programs Fri., Jan. 3, 2020: Reginald Dwayne Betts*, Lawyer, Poet, Lecturer on Mass Incarceration Fri., Jan. 17, 2020: Serena Ligouri*, Executive Director, New Hour for Women & Children — L.I. Fri., Feb. 7, 2020: David Garlock*, Program Director, New Person Ministries, Lancaster, PA Fri,. Feb. 20, 2020: Larry Levine*, Talk Show Host & Criminal Justice Consultant Fri,. Mar. 6, 2020: Hans Hallundbaek, Interfaith Prison Partnership Fri., Mar. 20, 2020: Tiheba Bain*, Women’s Incarceration Advocate Fri., Apr. 3, 2020: Rev. Dr. Harold Dean Trulear*, Director, Healing Communities Prison Ministry Thurs., Apr. 16, 2020, 6:30 pm: Live Onstage at Iona College, New Rochelle, NY, Special Guests to be Announced Fri., Apr. 17, 2020: Inaugural Inductees* of the CT Hall of Change & Charlie Grady, Founder Fri., May 1, 2020: Eilene Zimmerman, Author of the New Book, “Smacked: A Story of White Collar Ambition, Addiction & Tragedy” Fri., May 15, 2020: Fran Pastore, CEO, Women’s Business Development Council Fri., June 5, 2020: Children of Incarcerated Parents Show, Guests Aileen Keays & Nishka Ayala
“Business Talk with Jim Campbell” – syndicated nationally on the BizTalkRadio.com Network with over 300 affiliate stations, and “Forensic Talk with Jim Campbell” Monday April 27th 6 – 7 pm on 1490 AM WGCH Greenwich, WGCH.com. 1490 AM WGCH Greenwich, CT. Show features leaders in the worlds of business, politics and sports. For weekly email blast on show guests, send email to: [email protected]
Read Jeff Grant’s article, “I Went to Prison for SBA Loan Fraud: 7 Things You Should Know Before Taking Coronavirus Relief Money,” here
Listen on YouTube:
Jeff Grant, J.D., M.Div.is an ordained minister with over three decades of experience in crisis management, business, law, reentry, recovery (clean & sober 17+ years), and executive & religious leadership. Sometimes referred to in the press as “The Minister to Hedge Funders,” he uses his experience and background to guide people faithfully forward in their lives, relationships, careers and business opportunities, and to help them to stop making the kinds of decisions that previously resulted in loss, suffering and shame.
After an addiction to prescription opioids and serving almost fourteen months in a Federal prison for a white-collar crime he committed when he was a lawyer, Jeff started his own reentry – earning a Master of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York with a focus in Christian Social Ethics. He is Co-Founder of Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc., the world’s first ministry serving the white collar justice/economy exiled community. It hosts a White Collar Support Group online on Zoom on Monday evenings, 7 pm ET, 6 pm CT, 5 pm MT, 4 pm PT. The group marked its milestone 200th weekly online meeting on Mon., April 13th. Jeff can be reached at prisonist.org, [email protected].
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More on SBA PPP & EIDL Loan Fraud:
Entrepreneur: I Went to Prison for SBA Loan Fraud: 7 Things You Should Know when Taking Covid-19 Disaster Relief Money, by Jeff Grant, Link to article here.
The Philadelphia Inquirer: Steal Money from the Feds? First, Meet Jeff Grant, an Ex-Con who Committed Loan Fraud, by Erin Arvedlund: Link to article here.
Fraud Stories Podcast with Mark Lurie: SBA/PPP Loan Fraud with Guest: Jeff Grant. Link to podcast here.
Forbes: As Law Enforcement Pursues SBA Loan Fraud, Jeff Grant Talks Redemption, by Kelly Phillips Erb. Link to article here.
Taxgirl Podcast: Jeff Grant talks Desperation and Loans in a Time of Crisis with Kelly Phillips Erb on Her Podcast. Link to article and podcast here.
Business Talk with Jim Campbell: Jeff Grant Talks with Jim About Going to Prison for SBA Loan Fraud and What to Know When Taking Coronavirus Relief Money, Biz Talk Radio Network, Broadcast from 1490 AM WGCH Greenwich, CT. Listen on YouTube here.
Babz Rawls Ivy Show: Babz Rawls Ivy & Jeff Grant Talk SBA / PPP Loan Fraud and 7 Things to Know Before You Take Coronavirus Relief Money, WNHH 103.5 FM New Haven. Watch on YouTube here.
Also: White Collar Week with Jeff Grant, Podcast Episode 09: Small Business Edition, with Guest Kelly Phillips Erb. Link here.
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Blessings, לשלום
Jeff
Rev. Jeff Grant, J.D., M.Div. (he, him, his)
Co-founder, Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc., Greenwich CT & Nationwide
Co-host, The Criminal Justice Insider Podcast
Host, White Collar Week
Mailing: P.O. Box 1, Woodbury, CT 06798
Website: http://prisonist.org
Email: [email protected]
Office: 203-405-6249
Donations (501c3): http://bit.ly/donate35T9kMZ
Psychology Today: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/jeff-grant-woodbury-ct/731344
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/revjeffgrant
not a prison coach, not a prison consultant
Jeff Grant, J.D., M.Div. is an ordained minister with over three decades of experience in crisis management, business, law, reentry, recovery (clean & sober 17+ years), and executive & religious leadership. Sometimes referred to in the press as “The Minister to Hedge Funders,” he uses his experience and background to guide people faithfully forward in their lives, relationships, careers and business opportunities, and to help them to stop making the kinds of decisions that previously resulted in loss, suffering and shame. Jeff is the Co-Founder of Progressive Prison Ministries, the world’s first ministry serving the white collar justice community. It hosts a White Collar Support Group online on Zoom on Monday evenings, 7 pm ET, 6 pm CT, 5 pm MT, 4 pm PT. The group marked its milestone 200th weekly online meeting on Mon., April 13th. Jeff can be reached at prisonist.org, [email protected].
And please check out Icy’s new website, The Icing on the Cake (icyfrantz.net), creating connection one story at a time.
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Allison “Icy” Frantz, Activist, Columnist, Philanthropist, was our Guest on Criminal Justice Insider with Babz Rawls Ivy & Jeff Grant, Live on WNHH 103.5 FM New Haven, Fri., April 17, 2020, Live-Streamed and 24/7 Podcast Everywhere, see below.
Icy Frantz grew up in Fairfield County, attended and after a brief pause graduated from Trinity College in Hartford Connecticut. She received her Alcohol and Drug counseling certificate from Marymount Manhattan College and worked in the field of drug and alcohol prevention and education at the Freedom Institute in Manhattan and at Greenwich Academy in Greenwich, Connecticut. She was the Assistant Director of the International Institute for Alcohol Education and Training which worked with professionals in Russia and Poland. Icy is the author of Sergeants Heaven, a children’s book that she wrote after the death of her fourth child, to help children process the loss of a loved one. While raising her four children, she has sat on the Boards of Greenwich Country Day School, The Taft School, Arch Street Teen Center and the Parents Board of Bucknell University and has volunteered for Liberation Programs, LifeBridge, OSSO, and Inspirica. Currently she writes a column for the Greenwich Sentinel and is co founder of CT WOMEN UNITED, an organization created to inspire and educate women about local and state politics. She lives in Riverside, Connecticut with her husband, her two dogs, two cats, a fish and her four children.
Listen on SoundCloud:
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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 Sept.-June
From the WNHH 103.5 FM studios in New Haven. It is rebroadcast on WNHH at 5 pm ET the same day. Live-Streamed and Podcast available 24/7.
An article about each show is published a few days later in the New Haven Independent (newhavenindependent.org).
Season Three Program/Guests List (*formerly incarcerated):
Fri., Sept. 6, 2019: Khalil Cumberbatch*, Chief Strategist at New Yorkers United for Justice Fri., Sept. 20, 2019: Aaron T. Kinzel*, Lecturer in Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Michigan-Dearborn Fri., Oct. 4, 2019: Charlie Grady, Outreach Specialist for the FBI CT Community Outreach Program Fri., Oct. 18, 2019: Michael Kimelman*, Former Hedge Funder and Author of Confessions of a Wall Street Insider: A Cautionary Tale of Rats, Feds, and Banksters Fri., Nov. 1, 2019: Corey Brinson*, Former Attorney Convicted for a White Collar Crime who is running for Hartford City Council Fri., Nov. 15, 2019: Cathryn Lavery, Ph.D., Asst. Chair & Graduate Coordinator for the Iona College Criminal Justice Department Fri., Dec. 6, 2019: “Free Prison Phone Calls” Show, CT Rep. Josh Elliott & Tiheba Bain Fri. Dec. 20, 2019: John Hamilton, CEO, Liberation Programs Fri., Jan. 3, 2020: Reginald Dwayne Betts*, Lawyer, Poet, Lecturer on Mass Incarceration Fri., Jan. 17, 2020: Serena Ligouri*, Executive Director, New Hour for Women & Children – L.I. Fri., Feb. 7, 2020: David Garlock*, Program Director, New Person Ministries, Lancaster, PA Fri., Feb. 20, 2020: Larry Levine*, Talk Show Host & Criminal Justice Consultant Fri,. Mar. 6, 2020: Hans Hallundbaek, Interfaith Prison Partnership Fri., Mar. 20, 2020: Tiheba Bain*, Women’s Incarceration Advocate Fri., Apr. 3, 2020: Rev. Dr. Harold Dean Trulear*, Director, Healing Communities Prison Ministry Fri., Apr. 17, 2020: Allison “Icy” Frantz, Activist, Columnist, Philanthropist Fri., May 3, 2020: Eilene Zimmerman, Author of the New Book, “Smacked, A Story of White Collar Ambition, Addiction and Tragedy” Fri., May 15, 2020: Fran Pastore, CEO, Women’s Business Development Council
In this time of personal and community trauma, Progressive Prison Ministries invites you to Spiritual Urgent Care, “Walk-In” Hours, Thursdays on Zoom, 9:30 ET, 8:30 am CT, 7:30 am MT, 6:30 am PT, 3:30 am HST. Zoom link below.
No appointment needed! Open to all individuals with substance abuse or criminal justice issues, those feeling loss, shame, or embarrassment from career displacement due to the coronavirus crisis, fear of economic insecurity, or from some other traumatic or life-altering event! Friends and families welcome!
PS Spiritual Urgent Care is in addition to our regular White Collar Support Group Online on Zoom on on Monday evenings, 7 to 8:15 pm Eastern, 6 to 7:15 pm Central, 5 to 6:15 pm Mountain, 4 to 5:15 pm Pacific.
Jeff Grant, Director of Progressive Prison Ministries, appeared Sunday, April 15th on Real People with Stan Simpson, Fox 61 Television Connecticut. Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc. is the world’s first ministry supporting the white collar criminal justice/economy exiled community. It will be hosting the 200th consecutive weekly meeting of the world’s first and only confidential, online White Collar Support Group on Monday, April 13, 2020 at 7:00 pm ET, 6:00 pm CT, 5:00 pm MT, 4:00 pm PT, information here.
Watch on YouTube, Pt.1:
Watch on YouTube, Pt. 2:
Watch on YouTube, Pt. 3:
Stan Simpson is a former award-winning newspaper columnist at The Hartford Courant and a former radio talk show host for WTIC NewsTalk 1080 in Connecticut. He is host of “Real Story with Stan Simpson”, which airs Sundays, 10:30 a.m., on Fox 61. (The show can also be viewed on line at www.fox61.com/stan). The TV show is about “Connecticut people and compelling issues.” Among his guests have been: Connecticut Gov. Dan Malloy, UConn Basketball Coach Jim Calhoun, former NBA player Vin Baker, actress Sallie Toussaint and actor Michael Jai White. Hartford Magazine in 2009 recognized Simpson as one of the 50 Most Influential People in Connecticut.
Jeff Grant is an ordained minister with over three decades of experience in crisis management, business, law, reentry, recovery, and executive & religious leadership. After an addiction to prescription opioids and serving almost fourteen months in a Federal prison for a white-collar crime he committed when he was a lawyer, Jeff started his own reentry – earning a Master of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary in New York City. Sometimes referred to in the press as “The Minister to Hedge Funders,” he and his wife Lynn Springer co-founded Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc, the world’s first ministry serving the white collar justice community in Connecticut and nationwide. On Monday, April 13th at 7 pm EDT, he will host the 200th weekly meeting of the world’s first Online White Collar Support Group. Jeff and Babz Rawls Ivy co-host the Criminal Justice Insider Podcast, broadcast live from New Haven on WNHH at 9 am on the first and third Fridays of each month. Information about Jeff, the ministry and the podcast/radio show can be found on their website, prisonist.org.
Greenwich, CT – (March 31, 2020) – Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc. proudly announces that it will be hosting its 200th consecutive weekly meeting of the world’s first and only confidential, online White Collar Support Group on Monday, April 13, 2020 at 7:00 pm ET, 6:00 pm CT, 5:00 pm MT, 4:00 pm PT.
Jeff Grant, J.D., M.Div., who co-founded and hosts the meeting, explained the significance of this milestone. “We are extremely proud of what we’ve accomplished together. When we started the group four years ago, we had a dream that people with white collar justice issues, who are living in isolation with shame, guilt, and fear, could form a supportive community to accept full responsibility for their behavior, make amends, and embrace new lives of compassion, empathy, kindness and accountability. Group members support one another and reach out to others suffering in silence.”
“Attendance is steadily increasing. We’ve had over 180 men and women participating from 25 different states – and Canada, South America and the Caribbean,” Grant said. “While everyone who participates in the forum has been prosecuted for a white collar crime, or is otherwise exiled from the economy, the group is solution-oriented and dedicated to understanding, encouragement, practical advice and resource sharing for long-term recovery and success.”
Several individuals from the group have volunteered their testimonials:
“This support group has given me an opportunity to share my thoughts, concerns and emotional trauma with a compassionate and understanding group of people who all traveled a similar journey…” – Jeffrey Abramowitz (PA)
“Finding the group was such a turning point for me as I was lost. The group helped me with my immense feelings of guilt and how to overcome issues that I never knew would exist for me…” – Jacqueline Polverari (CT)
“I heard Jeff Grant interviewed on the Rich Roll podcast and knew I had to contact him, if nothing else, just to thank him for opening up and helping me realize that there are many others going through difficult situations…many, much worse than mine. He asked me to join the Monday night support group, telling me it’s the isolation that destroys us, and that the solution is in community…” Anonymous (OH)
Grant explained, “Most men and women, who have been prosecuted for white collar crimes, can’t go back to their old lives and careers, so what choice do they really have? Why not embrace a completely new life, with new options, and new opportunities centered on spirituality and doing the right things? The most fortunate are those who figure out that their attempts to solve problems in isolation are not working, and that they no longer have to go it alone.”
For those who would like to participate, Progressive Prison Ministries sends out weekly login instructions with a unique link for each week’s meeting. Participants choose to login on video via computer, tablet or smart phone, or audio only via phone.
Established in 2012 in Greenwich, CT, Progressive Prison Ministries is the world’s first ministry serving the white collar/ economy exiled community. More information is available on its website at prisonist.org and on its social media channels: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
About Progressive Prison Ministries’ Co-Founders:
Co-founders Jeff Grant and Lynn Springer were featured in a twelve-page article in Greenwich Magazine “The Redemption of Jeff Grant”. After an addiction to prescription opioids and serving almost 14 months in a Federal prison for a white-collar crime he committed when he was a lawyer, Jeff began his own reentry – earning a Master of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary in New York City with a focus in Christian Social Ethics.
