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Philadelphia Inquirer: Steal Money from the Feds? First, Meet Jeff Grant, an Ex-Con who Committed Loan Fraud, by Erin Arvedlund. Feat. Seth Williams, Jacqueline Polverari & Bill Baroni

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Reprinted from The Philadelphia Inquirer, Front Page, Oct. 18, 2020.

Thinking about stealing the government loan money you received in pandemic help?

Before you do, listen to Jeff Grant’s story.

After his opioid addiction, his theft of U.S. loan funds, and a federal prison sentence, Grant’s life as a lawyer and business professional was over.

But according to him, his new life was just beginning. And for small business owners feeling desperate — enough to steal — he’s created a safe place to talk anonymously and seek guidance.

Now clean and sober, remarried and out of prison, Jeff Grant, 64, co-founded Progressive Prison Ministries, what could be America’s first support group serving the white collar community —- in particular, those who committed white collar crimes and may have served prison time.

Based online, the group attracts many business owners and white-collar workers from Philadelphia.

“Philadelphia has the second largest concentration of our support group members,” Grant said, including Seth Williams, former Philadelphia district attorney, who Grant says attends regularly. Williams was released from prison earlier this year after serving time for his 2017 bribery conviction.

Grant was convicted after fraudulently obtaining $247,000 in federal aid soon the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, falsely claiming to have had a law office in lower Manhattan that had been shuttered by the disaster. He used the money to pay down personal credit cards. Meanwhile, his pain medication addiction ramped up, as did his marital problems.

“In 2002, I resigned my law license and started on the road to recovery. But it all caught up with me about two years later, when I was arrested” for misrepresenting information on his loan application. He served almost 14 months at a federal prison for wire fraud and money laundering.

“So much of my story is tied to my wife, Lynn Springer,” he said. They met in drug addiction recovery in Greenwich, Conn., and have been married for 11 years.

“I was a very bad bet, but she stayed with me through prison and the rough years after,” said Grant, based in Woodbury, Conn. He celebrated 18 years clean and sober on Aug. 10.

Basing it on a 12-step program, Grant created his support group for white collar criminals and their families after earning a divinity degree from Union Theological Seminary in New York. He now hosts an online White Collar Support Group every Monday.

“Here’s what business owners should consider when they take out disaster loans. Certainly, the majority of people requesting these loans are honest and upstanding entrepreneurs who have immense need for the aid, and will use the funds properly,” he said. “That said, history has shown us again and again that when people are in dire need, they’re more prone to make impulsive, ill-advised decisions.”

“My hope is that sharing my experience will help others avoid the consequences I faced.”

Sometimes referred to in the business press as a “minister to hedge funders,” he uses his experience to guide families and professionals in their relationships, careers and businesses, and to help them to stop making the bad decisions that resulted in loss, suffering and shame.

Rampant SBA loan fraud today gives Grant’s story new relevance. Wells Fargo this week said it fired at least 100 bank employees for improperly receiving coronavirus relief funds, and JPMorgan Chase & Co. also found more than 500 employees tapped the SBA’s disaster-loan program.

“What’s happening now is almost indescribable,” he said. “Nineteen years after committing my crime of SBA loan fraud, I’m now sought out both because of my cautionary tale and as a SBA loan fraud expert. Believe me, nobody was interested in the nuances of how bad things could happen in taking out disaster loans until COVID presented us with another huge disaster.”

Most recently, he hosted a podcast and interview with New Jersey politician Bill Baroni, who was imprisoned after the “Bridgegate” scandal with New Jersey governor Chris Christie, and had his felony conviction for corruption overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Grant’s white collar support group includes mostly executives, lawyers, and other professionals, and — yes, they are mostly white.

He has held over 200 online support group meetings and averages about 25 attendees at each meeting: https://prisonist.org/white-collar-support-group/.

Weekly meetings require registration ahead of time for privacy, and only first names are used. On Grant’s podcasts, all guests are post-sentencing or back from prison.

“How’d my life get there?” Baroni told Grant on a recent podcast. “I’d been a practicing lawyer, teaching constitutional law and voting rights, I ran for the legislature in 2003.”

“People have to make those tough decisions,” he said. “I wanted to get [his prison sentence] over with. When you go through this, all’s changed, changed utterly,” Baroni said.

When Christie was elected governor in 2009. Baroni ran the Port Authority overseeing all six airports in the New York-New Jersey area, the bridges and tunnels, the PATH train system, two bus terminals and the entire World Trade Center complex. Baroni served just under three months of an 18-month sentence, but was released after the Supreme Court agreed to hear his case.

Other guests aren’t as famous, but just as human.

For the episode “When Mom Goes to Prison,” Grant hosted a woman prosecuted for white-collar crimes.

Jacqueline Polverari, convicted in 2014 of mortgage fraud, and her two daughters Maria and Alexa contributed an intimate look inside how crime and prison ravage families, and the steps needed to heal and put families back together.

“I used mortgage funds to supplement my business,” Polverari told listeners. “My kids were in middle and high school. I knew I was being investigated by the FBI and I hadn’t told the kids. I was guilty, knew I was going to jail, so I sat the kids down and told them the truth.”

Her children didn’t comprehend the extent of her crimes. Jacqueline wasn’t sentenced for several years and her temper flared regularly.

“It was a long, drawn-out process. It started when i was a freshman in high school and didn’t end until she came home from jail my senior year of college,” Alexa said on the podcast. “She didn’t keep us in the dark. She told us the honest truth. That made it a little bit easier.”

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.

Philadelphia Inquirer: Steal Money from the Feds? First, Meet Jeff Grant, an Ex-Con who Committed Loan Fraud, by Erin Arvedlund. Feat. Seth Williams, Jacqueline Polverari & Bill Baroni

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Reprinted from The Philadelphia Inquirer, Front Page, Oct. 18, 2020.

Thinking about stealing the government loan money you received in pandemic help?

Before you do, listen to Jeff Grant’s story.

After his opioid addiction, his theft of U.S. loan funds, and a federal prison sentence, Grant’s life as a lawyer and business professional was over.

But according to him, his new life was just beginning. And for small business owners feeling desperate — enough to steal — he’s created a safe place to talk anonymously and seek guidance.

Now clean and sober, remarried and out of prison, Jeff Grant, 64, co-founded Progressive Prison Ministries, what could be America’s first support group serving the white collar community —- in particular, those who committed white collar crimes and may have served prison time.

Based online, the group attracts many business owners and white-collar workers from Philadelphia.

“Philadelphia has the second largest concentration of our support group members,” Grant said, including Seth Williams, former Philadelphia district attorney, who Grant says attends regularly. Williams was released from prison earlier this year after serving time for his 2017 bribery conviction.

Grant was convicted after fraudulently obtaining $247,000 in federal aid soon the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, falsely claiming to have had a law office in lower Manhattan that had been shuttered by the disaster. He used the money to pay down personal credit cards. Meanwhile, his pain medication addiction ramped up, as did his marital problems.

“In 2002, I resigned my law license and started on the road to recovery. But it all caught up with me about two years later, when I was arrested” for misrepresenting information on his loan application. He served almost 14 months at a federal prison for wire fraud and money laundering.

“So much of my story is tied to my wife, Lynn Springer,” he said. They met in drug addiction recovery in Greenwich, Conn., and have been married for 11 years.

“I was a very bad bet, but she stayed with me through prison and the rough years after,” said Grant, based in Woodbury, Conn. He celebrated 18 years clean and sober on Aug. 10.

Basing it on a 12-step program, Grant created his support group for white collar criminals and their families after earning a divinity degree from Union Theological Seminary in New York. He now hosts an online White Collar Support Group every Monday.

“Here’s what business owners should consider when they take out disaster loans. Certainly, the majority of people requesting these loans are honest and upstanding entrepreneurs who have immense need for the aid, and will use the funds properly,” he said. “That said, history has shown us again and again that when people are in dire need, they’re more prone to make impulsive, ill-advised decisions.”

“My hope is that sharing my experience will help others avoid the consequences I faced.”

Sometimes referred to in the business press as a “minister to hedge funders,” he uses his experience to guide families and professionals in their relationships, careers and businesses, and to help them to stop making the bad decisions that resulted in loss, suffering and shame.

Rampant SBA loan fraud today gives Grant’s story new relevance. Wells Fargo this week said it fired at least 100 bank employees for improperly receiving coronavirus relief funds, and JPMorgan Chase & Co. also found more than 500 employees tapped the SBA’s disaster-loan program.

“What’s happening now is almost indescribable,” he said. “Nineteen years after committing my crime of SBA loan fraud, I’m now sought out both because of my cautionary tale and as a SBA loan fraud expert. Believe me, nobody was interested in the nuances of how bad things could happen in taking out disaster loans until COVID presented us with another huge disaster.”

Most recently, he hosted a podcast and interview with New Jersey politician Bill Baroni, who was imprisoned after the “Bridgegate” scandal with New Jersey governor Chris Christie, and had his felony conviction for corruption overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Grant’s white collar support group includes mostly executives, lawyers, and other professionals, and — yes, they are mostly white.

He has held over 200 online support group meetings and averages about 25 attendees at each meeting: https://prisonist.org/white-collar-support-group/.

Weekly meetings require registration ahead of time for privacy, and only first names are used. On Grant’s podcasts, all guests are post-sentencing or back from prison.

“How’d my life get there?” Baroni told Grant on a recent podcast. “I’d been a practicing lawyer, teaching constitutional law and voting rights, I ran for the legislature in 2003.”

“People have to make those tough decisions,” he said. “I wanted to get [his prison sentence] over with. When you go through this, all’s changed, changed utterly,” Baroni said.

When Christie was elected governor in 2009. Baroni ran the Port Authority overseeing all six airports in the New York-New Jersey area, the bridges and tunnels, the PATH train system, two bus terminals and the entire World Trade Center complex. Baroni served just under three months of an 18-month sentence, but was released after the Supreme Court agreed to hear his case.

Other guests aren’t as famous, but just as human.

For the episode “When Mom Goes to Prison,” Grant hosted a woman prosecuted for white-collar crimes.

Jacqueline Polverari, convicted in 2014 of mortgage fraud, and her two daughters Maria and Alexa contributed an intimate look inside how crime and prison ravage families, and the steps needed to heal and put families back together.

“I used mortgage funds to supplement my business,” Polverari told listeners. “My kids were in middle and high school. I knew I was being investigated by the FBI and I hadn’t told the kids. I was guilty, knew I was going to jail, so I sat the kids down and told them the truth.”

Her children didn’t comprehend the extent of her crimes. Jacqueline wasn’t sentenced for several years and her temper flared regularly.

“It was a long, drawn-out process. It started when i was a freshman in high school and didn’t end until she came home from jail my senior year of college,” Alexa said on the podcast. “She didn’t keep us in the dark. She told us the honest truth. That made it a little bit easier.”

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.

Jacqueline Polverari & Jeff Grant will Present at “The Justice Panel”, Albertus Magnus College, Mon., Oct. 19, 2020, Noon & 5 pm

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Jacqueline Polverari and Jeff Grant will be the presenters at Albertus Magnus College’s spring 2020 Justice Panel, which is now scheduled for Monday, October 19th, at 5 pm in New Haven, CT. Details to come!

For the last five years, a semi-annual event at Albertus Magnus College has been a presentation by the Pursuing Truth and Justice Student-Faculty Panel, or “Justice Panel,” for short. The Justice Panel is a student-faculty collaboration aimed at addressing contemporary instances of institutionalized injustice. Themes in the past include police-community relations, human trafficking, access to mental health services, the role of the prosecutor, racial privilege and exclusion, immigration policy, racial justice in the NFL, and the status of Puerto Rico.

The Justice Panel lasts one hour and allows for each presenter to speak, followed by a respondent, additional remarks by the speakers, and comments from the floor. As we wish to include the students in the evening program, the Panel will present at 5:00 pm.

The themes of incarceration and re-entry are intended to branch out to other elements of criminal justice reform and to other topics that bear on justice. For instance, there is an interest on campus in the topics of mass incarceration, restorative justice, and the loss of civil rights by felons who have completed their sentences.

The Justice Panel is open to the entire Albertus Magnus College population and the community at large.

Justice Panel

“Incarceration and Re-Entry: A View from the Inside”
 
Presenters:
Jacqueline Polverari, MSW, Executive Director of Evolution Reentry Service
Jeff Grant, M.Div., Director of the Progressive Prison Project, Co-Founder of Progressive Prison Ministries
 
Respondents:
Cecilia Sebastian, Ph.D. Candidate in German Studies, Yale University
Tracy Bowens, ’19, Masters in Leadership Program, Albertus Magnus College
 
Please note:  This program will be offered twice
 
Monday, October 19, 2020, Virtual Event

5:00 – 6:00 p.m.
 
To reserve a space please email ([email protected]) or call 203-401-2024

Sponsored by the Preaching Truth and Justice Panel Committee and the Criminal Justice Program

 

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Jacqueline Polverari, MBA, MSW is the founder and Executive Director of Evolution Reentry Services, focusing on the needs of women who have been impacted by the Criminal Justice System.  Jacqueline has over 25 years’ experience as a professional with proven successes in business leadership, mentoring and therapeutic environments. Her experience working with trauma culminated after spending almost a year in Danbury Federal Prison Camp for Women and observing the trauma women experience related to being incarcerated.  She has since dedicated herself to Criminal Justice Reform and Reentry services with a special focus on trauma and reentry services for women relating to incarceration.  Jacqueline is an active member of the National Association of Social Workers, JustLeadershipUSA and #Cut50 and speaks at conferences and symposiums throughout the country.  She most recently designed and hosted the first retreat for women convicted of a white-collar crime in the country in October 2019.  Jacqueline is working diligently to continue her education and has returned to school to obtain her Doctoral Degree in Social Work with a concentration in Criminal Justice.  For more information or to schedule a speaking engagement you can reach Jacqueline Polverari:  evolutionreentry.com, [email protected]

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 supporting the white collar justice/economy exiled community. Jeff is the first person in the United States formerly incarcerated for a white collar crime to be appointed as CEO of a major criminal justice organization.

As an ordained minister, conversations and communications between Jeff and those he serves fall under clergy privilege laws. This is one reason that attorneys often allow and encourage their clients to maintain relationships with Jeff while in active prosecution or litigation situations.

White Collar Week with Jeff Grant, Podcast Ep. 05: Trauma & Healing when Mom goes to Prison, with Guests: Jacqueline Polverari and Her Daughters, Maria & Alexa

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White Collar Week with Jeff Grant
A Podcast Serving the White Collar Justice Community

Limited 10-Episode Run: Summer 2020

It’s the Isolation that Destroys Us. The Solution is in Community.

_______________________

Podcast Ep. 05: Trauma & Healing when Mom Goes to Prison, Guests: Jacqueline Polverari and Her Daughters, Alexa & Maria

Today on the podcast we have Jacqueline Polverari, a mom who served time in a Federal Prison for a white collar crime, and her two daughters, Maria and Alexa. It is an intimate look inside how crime and prison ravage families, and the steps needed to heal and put families back together.

As far as I know, this type of conversation has never before been recorded for the public. There is a lot of joy and laughter – and sadness and tears. Real stuff in the life of this family, and of every family going through difficult issues.

Full disclosure, this is no ordinary family. Jacquie is a member of our White Collar Support Group that meets online on Monday evenings who has founded her own organization, Evolution Reentry in Branford, CT, supporting women who have been prosecuted for white collar crimes. Both of her daughters (and her husband Dave and son Thomas too!) give of themselves freely to regularly support the families of people with white collar justice issues.

I am sure you will relate to and identify with so much in this podcast, regardless of what kinds of problems you and your family might be going through.

So, coming up – the Polveraris. On White Collar Week. I hope you will join us. – Jeff

Listen on Apple Podcasts:

Listen on Spotify:

Watch on YouTube:

Listen on SoundCloud:

https://soundcloud.com/whitecollarweek/white-collar-week-with-jeff-grant-ep-05-a-family-affair-jacqueline-polverari-maria-alexa

 

Guests on this Episode:

Jacqueline Polverari, MBA, MSW was a Social Worker for over 10 years and a partner in a large Title Company for over 15 years.  As an entrepreneur, Jacqueline had reached new limits of her career as an experienced professional with proven success in business and mentoring environments when a series of poor choices led her to a federal indictment and a sentence of almost a year in Danbury Federal Prison Camp for Women. After her release, Jacqueline entered a new phase of her life researching in depth about Mental Health, Crime and Criminal Justice while correlating it to reentry services.  This clearly grew into her passion after she had faced the many challenges of reentry.  It is clear to her that there is a lack of resources for reentry and there is a need for change.  She is working and advocating to be part of a change to come by dedicating herself to help fix this broken criminal justice system. Jacqueline is currently an integral part in helping women prepare for entry and reentry of the Federal Prison System both psychologically and spiritually through mental health services and education of the system.  She has founded Evolution Family Reentry Services and is currently building resources by establishing nurturing partnerships with professionals in the mental health fields as well as employers and career placement agencies to help women and their families who face career barriers as they re-enter into society.  You can reach Jacqueline at: http://www.evolutionreentry.com/.

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You can find all episodes of our podcast “White Collar Week with Jeff Grant” on our website prisonist.org, our Facebook page, Podbean, YouTube (video), SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter.

Information About our White Collar Support Group…

____________________________

Louis Reed/Babz Rawls Ivy PSA:

Some very kind words from my dear friends Louis L. Reed and Babz Rawls Ivy in this brief PSA. Thank you Louis and Babz! – Jeff

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All Episodes:

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?

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Welcome to White Collar Week with Jeff Grant, 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 of 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.

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: 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

_________________________

Thank you for listening to White Collar Week.

Please subscribe, rate and review the podcast if you loved it – it helps others suffering in silence find us if they need us!

_________________________

Follow White Collar Week on Social:

Web: https://prisonist.org/white-collar-week

Facebook: https://facebook.com/whitecollarweek

Twitter: https://twitter.com/whitecollarweek

Instagram: https://instagram.com/whitecollarweek

LinkedIn: https://linkedin/whitecollarweek

_________________________

Follow Jeff Grant on Social:

Web: https://prisonist.org

Facebook: https://Facebook.com/revjeffgrant

Twitter: https://twitter.com/revjeffgrant

Instagram: https://instagram.com/revjeffgrant

LinkedIn: https://linkedin/revjeffgrant

_________________________

Want to be a guest on the Show? Have a connection you’d like to make?

Email us! [email protected]

_________________________

Credits:

Host: Jeff Grant, J.D., M.Div.

Audio Engineering: George Antonios: https://georgeantonios.com

Video Engineering: Todd Nixon

Art Direction: Greyskye Marketing, LLC: https://greyskye.com

_________________________

Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc. is the world’s first ministry supporting the white collar justice community. Founded by husband and wife, Jeff Grant and 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.

 

White Collar Week with Jeff Grant, Podcast Episode 01: 16 Members of Our White Collar Support Group Tell Their Stories

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White Collar Week with Jeff Grant

It’s the Isolation that Destroys Us. The Solution is in Community.

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Podcast Ep. 01: An Evening with Our White Collar Support Group

This is a very special podcast – we have on 16 members of our White Collar Support Group that meets on Zoom on Monday nights, 7 pm Eastern, 4 pm Pacific. We have held over 200 weekly meetings and they get better each week as we come out of isolation and into a supportive community that truly cares about one another. We have welcomed over 200 support group members along the way!

But the support group meeting on this podcast is a little different than most, because everyone appearing has agreed to share their names, faces and very personal stories in an effort to reach out to individuals and families suffering in silence. We’ve never done anything like this before as a group, but we feel the cause is so important that it was worth the risk.

I know you will learn to love and respect every member you see or hear on this podcast as much as I do. – Jeff

Listen on Apple Podcasts:

Listen on Spotify:

Listen on SoundCloud:

 

 Watch on YouTube:

 

Guests on this Episode Include:

Jacqueline Polverari, MBA, MSW was a Social Worker for over 10 years and a partner in a large Title Company for over 15 years.  As an entrepreneur, Jacqueline had reached new limits of her career as an experienced professional with proven success in business and mentoring environments when a series of poor choices led her to a federal indictment and a sentence of almost a year in Danbury Federal Prison Camp for Women. After her release, Jacqueline entered a new phase of her life researching in depth about Mental Health, Crime and Criminal Justice while correlating it to reentry services.  This clearly grew into her passion after she had faced the many challenges of reentry.  It is clear to her that there is a lack of resources for reentry and there is a need for change.  She is working and advocating to be part of a change to come by dedicating herself to help fix this broken criminal justice system. Jacqueline is currently an integral part in helping women prepare for entry and reentry of the Federal Prison System both psychologically and spiritually through mental health services and education of the system.  She has founded Evolution Family Reentry Services and is currently building resources by establishing nurturing partnerships with professionals in the mental health fields as well as employers and career placement agencies to help women and their families who face career barriers as they re-enter into society.  You can reach Jacqueline at: http://www.evolutionreentry.com/.


Jeffrey Abramowitz, J.D. is the Executive Director of Reentry Services for JEVS Human Services and Program Director of Looking Forward Philadelphia. Jeff was a 2018 Fellow for Justleadership USA, and has most recently served as the Director of Student Services & Workforce Development for Community Learning Center. Jeff was a trial lawyer in Philadelphia before poor choices in life and his professional career resulted in acceptance of responsibility and a five-year sentence in the federal prison system. Entering the criminal justice system allowed Jeff the opportunity to see the world with a new pair of glasses and find his passion for education and workforce development. In the short 4.5 years since Jeff has been home he has worked with over 4,000 individuals, spoken and lectured across the country to educators, administrators, communities, and those touched by our criminal justice system. Jeff  proudly sits on the Executive Board of the Coalition on Basic Adult Education, COABE, where he serves as the chair of the Literacy Behind and Beyond the Walls Committee, was appointed to the Pennsylvania Reentry Council and serves as Chairman of the Employment Committee and Co-chairs the Reentry Committee for the PA Workforce Development Board. Jeff is active in the Philadelphia Reentry Coalition. Jeff serves on the board of directors of Community Forgiveness & Restoration, a member of NationSwell Council, and Advisory Board Member of Philadelphia Petey Greene Program. Jeff  is presently a LINCS Reviewer, Literacy Information & Communication System, Resource Collection, for the Department of Education, and serves on the National Association of State Directors of Education, Barbara Bush Foundation Criminal Justice Work Group. Jeff is the producer and host of the award-winning weekly radio show “Looking Forward” on Philly Cam Radio WPPM 106.5FM.  Jeffrey is a writer, keynote speaker and lecturer around the country on issues of adult education, workforce development and criminal justice. Jeff can be reached at: [email protected].
  

Joseph Grmovsek is the subject of the educational-documentary film Collared and is the first and still ONLY person in Canadian history to serve a Federal sentence of imprisonment for insider trading. He is currently the Program Director for Restorative Justice Housing Ontario, a charity that finds safe homes for elderly ex-prisoners, as well as a public speaker on issues of restorative justice and white-collar crime prevention. He can be contacted through his website CollaredConsulting.com.

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You can find all episodes of our podcast “White Collar Week with Jeff Grant” on our website prisonist.org, our Facebook page, Podbean, YouTube (video), SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter.

 

Details and Links for this Podcast…

Information About our White Collar Support Group…

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All Episodes:

Link here to Podcast Ep. 29, Guests: The Entrepreneurs, David Israel & Spencer Oberg

Link here to Podcast Ep. 28, Guests: The Investigators, Kelly Paxton & Brian Willingham

Link here to Podcast Ep. 27, The Addicted Lawyer, Guest: Brian Cuban

Link here to Podcast Ep. 26, Oppression & Identity, Guests: Jaco & Leslie Theron

Link here to Podcast Ep. 25, Ex-Philadelphia D.A., Seth Williams, Part Two

Link here to Podcast Ep. 24, Ex-Philadelphia D.A., Seth Williams, Part One

Link here to Podcast Ep. 23, The Vanishing Trial, Robert Katzberg

Link here to Podcast Ep. 22: The Goddess, with Guest: Babz Rawls Ivy

Link here to Podcast Ep. 21: All Things SBA, PPP & EIDL, with Guest: Hannah Smolinski, CPA, Virtual CFO

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: An Evening with Our White Collar Support Group: 16 of Our Support Group Members Tell Their Stories

Link here to Podcast Ep. 00: White Collar Week with Jeff Grant: What is White Collar Week?

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What is the White Collar Justice Community?

Welcome to White Collar Week with Jeff Grant, 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 of 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…

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 – a podcast that serves the entire white collar justice community. I hope you will join me.

Blessings, לשלום

Jeff

Rev. Jeff Grant, J.D., M.Div. (he, him, his) 
Co-founder, Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc., Greenwich CT & Nationwide
Host, White Collar Week
Mailing: P.O. Box 1, Woodbury, CT 06798
Website: 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

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Thank you for listening to White Collar Week.

Please subscribe, rate and review the podcast if you loved it – it helps others suffering in silence find us if they need us!

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Follow White Collar Week on Social:

Web: https://prisonist.org/white-collar-week

Facebook: https://facebook.com/whitecollarweek

Twitter: https://twitter.com/whitecollarweek

Instagram: https://instagram.com/whitecollarweek

LinkedIn: https://linkedin/whitecollarweek

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Follow Jeff Grant on Social:

Web: https://prisonist.org

Facebook: https://Facebook.com/revjeffgrant

Twitter: https://twitter.com/revjeffgrant

Instagram: https://instagram.com/revjeffgrant

LinkedIn: https://linkedin/revjeffgrant

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Want to be a guest on the Show? Have a connection you’d like to make?

Email us! [email protected]

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Credits:

Host: Jeff Grant, J.D., M.Div.

Audio Engineering: George Antonios: https://georgeantonios.com

Video Engineering:

Webmaster: GreySkye Marketing, Inc.

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It’s the Isolation that Destroys Us. The Solution is in Community.

Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc. is the world’s first ministry supporting the white collar justice community. Founded by husband and wife, Jeff Grant and 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.I

f 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 2021, All Rights Reserved, Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc.,

Watch on YouTube, Listen on SoundCloud: The Criminal Justice Insider Podcast Season Three Wrap Show with Guests from Our First 3 Seasons, Fri., June 19, 2020

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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.

Please ‘like” us on our Facebook Page (best place for information, news, articles, events): https://www.facebook.com/criminaljusticeinsider
Our website: prisonist.org/criminal-justice-insider
Twitter: @insidercj
Instagram: @criminaljusticeinsider

The show is live-streamed & podcast 24/7 at:
Apple Podcasts (iTunes): https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/wnhh-community-radio
New Haven Independent: newhavenindependent.org
Facebook Live: https://www.facebook.com/wnhhradio
YouTube: https://youtube.comTwitter: https://twitter.com/wnhhlp

Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/wnhhradio
Periscope: https://www.pscp.tv/search?q=wnhh

The show is also archived at:
SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/new-haven-independent/sets/criminal-justice-insider
Community Foundation of Greater New Haven website: https://www.cfgnh.org/LeadingOnIssues/IncarcerationandReentry/CriminalJusticeInsiderRadioArchives.aspx

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. 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, 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

Press Release: World’s First Online White Collar Support Group to Celebrate 200th Meeting on April 13, 2020

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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.”

Each Monday evening, Progressive Prison Ministries hosts the 75-minute meeting online on Zoom through its popular criminal justice resource site prisonist.org.

“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.

Support group information and contact information is at https://prisonist.org/white-collar-support-group. 

Those currently on supervised release, probation or parole, MUST first discuss participation in the group with their parole or probation officer.

About Progressive Prison Ministries:

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.

For additional information, contact:

Rev. Jeff Grant, J.D., M.Div., T: (203) 405-6249; E-Mail: [email protected],  www.prisonist.org.

NEW DATE, VIRTUAL EVENT: Jacqueline Polverari & Jeff Grant will Present at “The Justice Panel”, Albertus Magnus College, Mon., Oct. 19, 2020

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Jacqueline Polverari and Jeff Grant will be the presenters at Albertus Magnus College’s spring 2020 Justice Panel, which is now scheduled for Monday, October 19th, at noon and at 5 pm in New Haven, CT. Details to come!

For the last five years, a semi-annual event at Albertus Magnus College has been a presentation by the Pursuing Truth and Justice Student-Faculty Panel, or “Justice Panel,” for short. The Justice Panel is a student-faculty collaboration aimed at addressing contemporary instances of institutionalized injustice. Themes in the past include police-community relations, human trafficking, access to mental health services, the role of the prosecutor, racial privilege and exclusion, immigration policy, racial justice in the NFL, and the status of Puerto Rico.

The Justice Panel lasts one hour, and allows for each presenter to speak, followed by a respondent, additional remarks by the speakers, and comments from the floor. As we wish to include the students in the evening program, the Panel makes two presentations, one at noon for the day students and one at 5:00pm for evening students.

The themes of incarceration and re-entry are intended to branch out to other elements of criminal justice reform and to other topics that bear on justice. For instance, there is an interest on campus in the topics of mass incarceration, restorative justice, and the loss of civil rights by felons who have completed their sentences.

The Justice Panel is open to the entire Albertus Magnus College population and the community at large.

Justice Panel

“Incarceration and Re-Entry: A View from the Inside”
 
Presenters:
Jacqueline Polverari, MSW, Executive Director of Evolution Reentry Service
Jeff Grant, M.Div., Director of the Progressive Prison Project, Co-Founder of Progressive Prison Ministries
 
Respondents:
Cecilia Sebastian, Ph.D. Candidate in German Studies, Yale University
Tracy Bowens, ’19, Masters in Leadership Program, Albertus Magnus College
 
Please note:  This program will be offered twice
 
Monday, October 19, 2020, Virtual Event

12:00 – 1:00 p.m.

and
5:00 – 6:00 p.m.
 
To reserve a space please email ([email protected]) or call 203-401-2024

Sponsored by the Preaching Truth and Justice Panel Committee and the Criminal Justice Program

 

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Jacqueline Polverari, MBA, MSW is the founder and Executive Director of Evolution Reentry Services, focusing on the needs of women who have been impacted by the Criminal Justice System.  Jacqueline has over 25 years’ experience as a professional with proven successes in business leadership, mentoring and therapeutic environments. Her experience working with trauma culminated after spending almost a year in Danbury Federal Prison Camp for Women and observing the trauma women experience related to being incarcerated.  She has since dedicated herself to Criminal Justice Reform and Reentry services with a special focus on trauma and reentry services for women relating to incarceration.  Jacqueline is an active member of the National Association of Social Workers, JustLeadershipUSA and #Cut50 and speaks at conferences and symposiums throughout the country.  She most recently designed and hosted the first retreat for women convicted of a white-collar crime in the country in October 2019.  Jacqueline is working diligently to continue her education and has returned to school to obtain her Doctoral Degree in Social Work with a concentration in Criminal Justice.  For more information or to schedule a speaking engagement you can reach Jacqueline Polverari:  evolutionreentry.com, [email protected]

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 supporting the white collar justice/economy exiled community. Jeff is the first person in the United States formerly incarcerated for a white collar crime to be appointed as CEO of a major criminal justice organization.

As an ordained minister, conversations and communications between Jeff and those he serves fall under clergy privilege laws. This is one reason that attorneys often allow and encourage their clients to maintain relationships with Jeff while in active prosecution or litigation situations.

Jeff Grant & Jacqueline Polverari will be Panelists at the S.B.A. Workforce Inclusivity Seminar: Discovering Untapped Talent Sources, Fairfield University, Thurs, Dec. 12, 2019, 8:30 am ET

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The U.S. Small Business Administration invites you to learn from small business owners and state professionals who have found success by exploring new pools of talent in their communities. These innovative businesses now include employees with disabilities, re-entry program participants and foster youth who are transitioning into independence by working in collaboration with the State of Connecticut and other partner agencies.

Who: Hiring agents of employees w/ disabilities, formerly incarcerated individuals, and foster youth who are transitioning into independence.

What: Workforce Inclusivity / Workforce Development Seminar, consider untapped sources of talent in your community!

When: Thursday, December 12, 2019
8:30am -12:00pm

Where:
Fairfield University/ Dolan School of Business, Dolan Events Hall
1073 N Benson Rd.
Fairfield, CT 06824

Register/Reasonable Accommodations: Please register to attend by December 9th, 2019 at https://tinyurl.com/qodzq92. Reasonable accommodations for persons with disabilities will be made if requested at least 5 days prior to the event. Contact [email protected] or call (860) 240-4654.

Program and speaker list to be announced shortly.

Criminal Justice Advocates Jacqueline Polverari & Jeff Grant

Jeff Grant & Jacqueline Polverari Speak at Albertus Magnus College, Nov. 14, 2019

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On Thurs., Nov. 14th, Jacqueline Polverari of Evolution Reentry Services & Rev. Jeff Grant of Progressive Prison Ministries were invited to speak to students today at Albertus Magnus College, New Haven, CT. Meeting young people dedicating themselves to careers in enlightened criminal justice – a wonderful afternoon.  

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