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Faith-based reentry organization celebrates 20th anniversary
SHERRY KARABIN
Legal News Reporter
Published: October 23, 2019
He spent years behind bars for selling drugs to support his addiction to crack cocaine, but today Richard Williams is working to help others break free from the cycle of addiction as a recovery manager at Truly Reaching You (TRY) in Akron.
The nonprofit, faith-based reentry organization gives men with a history of incarceration and drug use the tools to get their lives back on track.
“I have been clean for over six years now,” said Williams. “Addiction is a progressive disease and without the help I received I would still be in self-destruct mode.”
In his case, the assistance came directly from his current employer, whose founder, Akron native Perry Clark, provided Williams with the encouragement and support he needed to turn his life around.
“Perry did so much for me,” said Williams.
Clark started TRY in 1999 after a chance encounter with three men on an Akron street corner set all four of their lives on a different path.
“The men were drinking and selling drugs,” said Clark. It was a familiar situation for Clark, a recovering addict, who spent 10 years incarcerated due to his previous lifestyle.
“I was paroled in 1997,” Clark said. “While I was on the inside I got clean, so I really understood where these three men were coming from. I decided to approach them and begin a conversation and I quickly learned they had no job skills.
“At the time I was self-employed doing home remodeling so I told them to meet me at the same corner on Monday and I would begin working with them.”
As it turned out, his desire to improve the lives of three men evolved into a lifelong mission, with Clark and his organization reaching out to over 500 men since it began. Like Clark, the majority were once incarcerated because of crimes they committed to support their unhealthy lifestyles.
Now Clark makes regular visits to correctional facilities—only these days his time is spent identifying candidates who can benefit from TRY’s reentry program.
“I never thought I would go back inside once I was released,” said Clark, who graduated from Leadership Akron Class 31. “Now I go into prisons and do presentations and talk to caseworkers to help provide hope to the men.”
An affiliate of Ohio Recovery Housing, TRY currently operates eight transitional homes for men and provides a wide array of recovery support services and employment training to those who are accepted into its program.
“I look for men who want to change, but don’t know how,” said Clark.
Candidates undergo a thorough screening process, including three separate interviews, two of which are done on the phone. The final one is an in-person meeting with Clark, who visits the individual at the institution to discuss the program’s rules and expectations.
“We like to start the process eight to 12 months before the man is due to be released so we can build a relationship,” said Clark. “We ask the man to write us and we write him back. If I know I will be at the institution to do a presentation, I let the man know so he can stop by and talk to me.
“For a man to change he has to be honest,” he said. “He must also be willing to change his whole lifestyle. For example, I can no longer go to the same places or associate with the same people that I once did.”
Clark said participants must be clean when they come to TRY.
“We recommend they seek behavioral health and substance abuse services while they are still on the inside,” Clark said.
“Once they are in our program, we will take them to all their appointments, including behavioral health, addiction treatment and parole appointments.”
TRY works with men who are primarily from Summit County. The program does accept men from other counties, provided that the man is not an arsonist or a sex offender.
“Most men spend nine to 12 months in the program,” said Clark. “We have had some people stay in the program longer. We do not push anyone out as long as they are doing everything they are supposed to be doing.”
On average, 70 men participate in the program each year.
“Out of the 104 men who have completed the program, only one person has gone back to prison that I am aware of,” said Clark. “For men that stay three months with us, it cuts their recidivism rate in half.”
While Clark began TRY with just one staff member, today he employs 13 people.
Williams began working for TRY five years ago, initially as a housing coordinator.
“I started using around age 19 and quit when I got married at age 30,” said Williams. “Unfortunately I relapsed four years into my marriage. We eventually separated and I moved in with my mother.”
After being urged by his family to seek treatment, Williams sought help in 2011 through the Summit County ADM (Alcohol, Drug Addiction & Mental Health Services) Board.
“I needed housing so they connected me to TRY,” he said.
But after earning his first paycheck, Williams used a weekend pass to buy crack.
“I ended up leaving TRY and I went back to what I was doing,” he said. “I hit bottom very quickly and one day I looked at myself in the mirror and said ‘I’m done.’ I did not recognize myself in any way.
“I was staying with a friend who was involved with drug trafficking at the time so I removed myself from that environment and put myself in treatment.”
Fourteen days later, he was given a pass so he could go to Holy Spirit Anglican Church in Akron, and while walking over, he ran into Clark.
“We started talking, which led me back to TRY,” said Williams.
After completing his first phase in the TRY program, Williams obtained an associate’s degree in chemical dependency counseling from Stark State College.
At age 53, Williams said he has come to realize the importance of having a strong team of positive, healthy people around him, who share his goals and vision.
“I spent my whole 20s in prison,” said Williams. “Now I work to help men who are coming out of the same situation I was once in.”
On Thursday, Oct. 24, TRY is holding an event to celebrate its 20th anniversary.
The event is part of the organization’s three-year fundraising campaign, which began by raising money to put a new roof on a commercial building donated by the county. The building, located at 180 E. South St., is now being used as a warehouse.
The celebration gets underway at 5:30 p.m. at the Trailhead at Cascade Lofts in Akron.
“We will have different stations set up with educational material and residents will be able to hear from men who came through the program,” said Clark.
For more information on the Oct. 24 event, go to www.trulyreachingyou.com/20th or send an email to Gabrielle@trulyreachingyou.com.