The Prison Post #29 begins a series of conversations with CROP Organization's Ready for Life Associates. We want to welcome the first Associate to be on our podcast, Luis-Miguel Bermudez. He will forever hold the honor of being the first Associate in CROP's Ready for Life Virtual Training Program to share his powerful story and experience on our show. We are proud to have Luis on The Prison Post and grateful that he's found tremendous value in our program.

CROP's Ready for Life Program provides: Three months of Leadership Development provided by CROP, Financial Literacy provided by Beneficial State Bank, and IC3 Digital Literacy training provided by Linked In. CROP also provides three months of career training in Business to Business Sales in Tech. We have partnered with Code Tenderloin and Checkr to provide this training and employment opportunities upon graduation. CROP Organization provides a $1,000 monthly stipend to our participants as they go through our six month program.

In this episode Luis shares stories from his personal life growing up, how the choices that led to his incarceration in San Francisco, the challenges of being justice involved, and his experience after nearly one month in Ready for Life. Luis taps into his biggest transformational experiences in the leadership development program and how the community we are creating has become a great support system and positive environment. In short, he shares his pain points and how he's working to overcome any and all barriers that hindered him in the past.

Luis shares what it's like to go through Ready for Life with proximate leaders directing the program versus what is typically given by parole, probation, and the CDCR system. Furthermore, he shares the biggest challenge of his life that led to his way of thinking and incarceration and how he's overcoming that today through his rap and vision to build a non profit that helps the youth with the challenges he experienced. Luis is gaining maximum value for his life and generously sharing his personal stories and to learn and stand alongside others in their personal growth.

At the 41st minute of this show Luis courageously raps and offers his most traumatic experiences in life and how he is going to use his trauma to help heal other people who've gone through similar experiences. Luis is a powerful example of what it means to be a Man Built for Others. This episode has quickly become one of my favorites and it's mainly because of the power, love, courage, generosity, and service that Luis is willing to bring to CROP, his community of Associates, his family, and community. We love you and appreciate you Luis. #CROPOrganization #ThePrisonPostPodcast #ReimaginingReentry #WorkingTogethertoRestoreLivesandHealCommunities #ReadyforLife #ReadyforLifeAssociates #LeadershipDevelopment

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