Statements
Mission
Reuniting with God, family, and community.
Background
TPOM traces its beginning to 1963 when two volunteers began serving in the Nashville jail. In 1982, Ron Goodman relocated his prison ministry work from Texas to the Nashville area and formed the Nashville Prison Ministry and the Federal Prison Ministry in 1982 under the oversight of the Harpeth Hills Church of Christ. In 2013, the ministry became known as the Tennessee Prison Outreach Ministry (TPOM), a public, non-profit charity with the goal of reaching the incarcerated, returning citizens, and their families throughout Tennessee in all fourteen state prisons and jails in all 95 counties.
Impact
We operate a re-entry center where we provide job training, job placement and counseling to our returning citizens. We operate an approved transitional house for men and women leaving incarceration, next door to the reentry center. We have separate houses for men and women. We now operate a 10 bed facility in Memphis for those leaving incarceration. We also conduct an annual summer camp and mentoring program for children of the incarcerated. We have taught approximately 2,000 students in the past year through classes and correspondence courses. We have expanded our volunteer base to over 500, giving their time in the re-entry center, county jails and prisons. We are able to place 87% of returning citizens in a job within 10 days of completion of our orientation course.
Needs
With 2.3 million incarcerated in the United States, a 500% increase in the past thirty years, only a collaborative effort of dedicated volunteers will be able to address this societal problem. We are needing collaboration with faith-based organizations, employers, churches, businesses and dedicated volunteers as we provide job training, mentoring, faith-based life-skill classes in jails and prisons. We are needing in-kind donations of furniture and appliances for those who graduate from the transitional duplex. We also accept hygiene items and religious materials for the incarcerated. Direct financial support is needed to help us fulfill our mission.
CEO Statement
This ministry, which had a small beginning in 1963 is now statewide with over 500 volunteers, committed to providing hope to the incarcerated and our returning citizens. We are Tennessee's first statewide ministry that is holistic and inside/out (reaching the incarcerated and assisting them and their families when released). Through the dedicated work of our volunteers, lives are changed, families are reconciled and communities are strengthened.
Service Categories |
|
| Primary Category: | Public & Societal Benefit - Citizen Participation |
| Secondary Category: | Human Services - Half-Way House (Short-Term Residential Care) |
| Tertiary Category: | Mental Health & Crisis Intervention - Counseling |
Areas Served
TPOM maintains a commitment to serve the incarcerated throughout the entire state. The majority of volunteers and services, however, are offered in Middle Tennessee.
| TN - Davidson |
| Statewide |
| TN - Sumner |
| TN - Wilson |
| TN - Robertson |
| TN - Williamson |
| TN - White |
| TN - Rutherford |
| TN - Williamson |
| TN - Wilson |
| TN - Tennessee (Entire State) |
| TN - Dickson |
