AKRON, Ohio — Perry Clark has been working to lower Ohio’s recidivism rate since founding his nonprofit, Truly Reaching You, in 1999.

What You Need To Know

  • Perry Clark has been working to lower Ohio’s recidivism rate since founding his nonprofit, Truly Reaching You, in 1999

  • TRY, a re-entry model that gives formerly-incarcerated men the structure they need to get back on their feet, which Clark based on his own experience after getting out of prison for drug-related charges

  • TRY provides participants with housing, clothing, training, employment opportunities and transportation

  • Clark said only two of the 210 men who have taken part in the 12-month program have gone back to prison

Clark was released from prison 27 years ago, after serving 10 years for drug-related charges. He still remembers how it felt the day after his release, when a woman in the parole office told him he would be back behind bars in no time.

“I had a lot of pain because I had someone telling me that I was on my way back to prison,” Clark said. “And she didn’t know me, and I didn’t know her.”

Data from the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections shows the state’s recidivism rate is 32.7%. That means nearly one in three people released from Ohio prisons will be re-arrested within three years. 

“So many men is released back to the community and have nowhere to go,” Clark said.

Securing housing and a job after getting out of prison can be difficult, especially on top of managing the mental health challenges that come with the transition. 

With the help of a strong support system and a background in contracting, Clark was able to start his own construction company in 1997.

Soon after launching his business, he ran into men he served time with that were starting to fall into old habits. 

“So I offered them employment,” Clark said. He also made them agree to regular drug-tests to ensure their money wasn’t spent where it shouldn’t be. 

When he learned two of the men were living back in places where illegal activity was happening around them, he knew he needed to find them alternative housing, so he fixed up an old house that he and his wife planned to sell. 

A few years later, Clark founded Truly Reaching You, or TRY, a re-entry model that gives formerly-incarcerated men the structure they need to get back on their feet. TRY provides participants with housing, clothing, training, employment opportunities and transportation.

“No business plan for truly reaching you,” Clark said. “It was this is what I had to do to live, to make a difference in my life. And how do I help a man make a difference in his life?”

Clark said spending four months in the program cuts the recidivism rate by 70%.

And — only two of the 210 men who have taken part in the 12-month program have gone back to prison.

For the first 30 days a new participant gets out of prison, they aren’t allowed to go anywhere but home or work without someone accompanying them.

They spend that time training in landscaping, construction and janitorial cleaning before being placed in work that TRY contracts out.

Jamie Lee Rhodes, a current participant, said it was actually nice for him to get into a routine.

Before he knew he would end up with TRY, he says he had a lot of anxiety about what life would look outside of prison.

“It's all about chances. It's all about chances,” Rhodes said. “It's all about giving people like me, people like guys I know, a chance because we all have a heart. We're all human.”

That’s what keeps Clark doing this work, 25 years after founding TRY. 

“A lot of times we think nobody don't care, and so when nobody don't care, it’s harder to break the stigma,” Clark said. “But we've been able to break some of the stigma by the way we operate and sharing how important it is to be connected to the community and those in the community.”