COLUMBUS, Ohio — Choices, Leadership, Energy, Attitude and Now are the fundamentals that former OSU football players Antonio Smith and Roy Hall wanted to instill in their CLEAN program.
What You Need To Know
- The CLEAN program was established in 2017
- It was originally designed as a cognitive and behavioral program for the incarcerated population
- The founders recently opened up a headquarters in Lima
- A recent government study shows more than 80% of state prison inmates were arrested again within 10 years after release
- The CLEAN program now offers financial literacy and entrepreneurial courses
A recent government study shows that 82% of people incarcerated in a state prison were arrested again within 10 years following their release.
Antonio Smith and Roy Hall are addressing the issue with their CLEAN program to help former inmates find support and avoid recidivism.
“Sometimes the smallest piece of assistance can go a long way for someone that doesn’t have it,” said Smith.
Both Smith and Hall, the co-CEOs, played football at Ohio State and went on to play in the NFL. They came together to start CLEAN in 2017. Smith said the emotional roller coaster of being a professional athlete can cause you to struggle to find your purpose once its over, a sentiment, many former inmates can relate too.
“We seen a need, we seen a gap and we wanted to take everything we learned and pour back into that particular community and demographic and help them clean themselves up,” said Smith.
Since their start, they’ve worked with more than 2,500 individuals through facilities like Franklin County Community Based Correctional Facility, Stark Regional Community Correction Center and the Worth Center.
In the beginning they just offered cognitive and behavioral programming for the incarcerated population, but CLEAN is a multi-dimensional learning tool for people to get their lives back on track. In an interview produced by CLEAN, one of their graduates expressed his newfound perspective on life, thanks to the program.
“Today I’m a lot of things, but I'm not a thing of the past,” said Johnathen Fugett, one of many CLEAN graduates. “I’m a person of the present and the future and that's going to be with CLEAN.”
The organization has taken their service one step further by opening their own facility in Lima. The CLEAN facility was established in Lima due to it being a central point between Toledo, Columbus and Dayton. The space will headquarter the statewide program and offer financial and entrepreneurial courses to help those in the program not only get on their feet, but stay on their feet.
“We really took a deep dive into that financial education space and we really feel like that is one of the resources that you need to break the cycle,” said Smith
In 2021, Ohio saw one of its highest rates of violent crime offenses per 100,000 people, according to the FBI. As Smith outlined his future plans for the facility, he said that he hopes the expansion of CLEAN will help everyone obtain a sense of purpose.
“To have this and to give this community and these residents something to do and something new to learn and something to see, give them hope and give them a sense of peace,” said Smith.
CLEAN plans to have scheduled programming at the facility next month. For more information on CLEAN click here.