Danny Ludeman, founder of Concordance Academy of Leadership
When thinking of incarceration in America, Danny Ludeman talks about Monica, a 20-year-old woman who was in the same prison at the same time as her mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother.
“This is not atypical,” the former Wells Fargo CEO says.
This story captures a statistic that inspired him to create the nonprofit, Concordance Academy of Leadership, in 2013: After being released from prison, about four out of five people (77 percent) are rearrested in five years and go back to prison. “There’s really been no improvement in that number across the country in more than 30 years," Ludeman says.
So he and a team studied the issue for two-and-a-half years. Then, they tapped experts and researchers from Washington University, University of Missouri–St. Louis, and Saint Louis University. The planning team grew to about 70 people who developed a prison rehabilitation program in partnership with the Brown School at Wash. U.
Courtesy of Concordance Academy
David Steward, co-founder of World Wide Technology
Since serving individuals incarcerated in two male prisons in Bonne Terre, one women’s prison in Vandalia, and one Illinois prison that also releases to the greater St. Louis region, the program has reduced reincarceration rates by 44 percent.
Now Ludeman has his sights on expansion. After six months of planning, Concordance recently launched its First Chance campaign, led by World Wide Technology co-founder and Concordance supporter David Steward, to raise $50 million to replicate its program in 11 U.S. cities by 2025, starting with Chicago.
“We have never seen a scalable program that’s as comprehensive or effective at reducing reincarceration and helping people re-enter into society as Concordance,” John Roman, a senior fellow in the Economics, Justice and Society Group at NORC at the University of Chicago, said in a statement. The University of Chicago has since joined Concordance as a program partner.
"Our re-entry model gives participants their first real chance to succeed: It helps them heal from trauma and substance use, learn the skills they need to earn a sustainable living, and put strategies into daily practice that reduce their likelihood of incarceration," Ludeman says.
So what makes the 18-month program successful? It's the only program of its kind in the country, uses a holistic approach, and offers 12 essential services all under one roof. In prison, clinicians and educators work with participants for six months pre-release, mainly conducting group sessions and meeting with individuals one on one. Concordance helps participants create a life plan, receive legal services from a Bryan Cave legal fellow, and connect with family support services.
After release, participants spend two half-days receiving transitional support, then spend six to eight weeks working on life skills, mental health and behavioral tools, and job readiness. Concordance then helps gradually transition members into full-time jobs through employer partners and encourage community activities before holding a graduation at the end of that first year after release.
"There are organizations that tend to focus on one or two things. Maybe that's helping people get jobs or life skills, or maybe housing, but it's been determined—scientifically, the research is crystal clear—that by trying to address one or two of these issues, there's a failed proposition to truly keep people from returning over and over again back to prison," Ludeman says.
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Ludeman said the team made the tough decision to not halt the programs because they feared teleconferencing would not adequately reach this vulnerable population. Instead, they've implemented cleaning protocols, a mask policy, temperature checks, and reduced the number of people together at a time.
Concordance currently serves about 250 people a year with hopes to expand to 500 and later 1,000. Despite the pandemic, Ludeman says this is the right time for the organization to expand, looking to other cities based on need, demographics, and local support. He believes other communities will see the same success stories he has.
In particular, he thinks of a man named Ronald, who had developed a substance use disorder, was in and out of prison five times before Ludeman met him through Concordance. After his release, he found a job through the nonprofit's employment agency and later became an elder in his church. He married his childhood sweetheart and recently welcomed a baby. Ludeman recalls attending Ronald's graduation from an HVAC program.
"When the individual heals, goes back into their community, is employed, families are reunited, and Mom or Dad are involved with children's lives, you have this huge ripple effect," Ludeman says. "Not only are we helping the individual, but we're also hoping to restore hundreds of communities around the country.”
