Progressive Prison Project
Greenwich, Connecticut
In Early December, I was
on my way to the Fresh Start Holiday Party in Bridgeport. Fresh Start is a program of
Family ReEntry, a nonprofit that serves formerly incarcerated persons and their
families in Fairfield County.
Since I was Vice Chairman of Family Reentry, I was invited to attend the
party. I liked going each year to
give support to the clients and staff, and also because the party was thrown in
the reception hall of the First Baptist Church of Bridgeport. Family ReEntry rents space in this
church to run its Bridgeport programs.
As I had been at the Family ReEntry programs many times, I knew and felt
very comfortable at this church.
As I walked into the
church on this particular day, something told me to go to Pastor Scott’s office
before I went into the reception hall.
On reflection, it wasn’t a strange thing to do; I had been greeting
Pastor Scott in this manner since I had been accepted to Union Theological
Seminary. As I progressed and then
received my Master of Divinity, we increasingly had more and more things to
talk about. We spoke for a long time and when
we were through had the blue print for me to become the Associate Minister/ Director of Prison Ministries for
the church. Both Pastor Scott and I both knew it was perfect for me. I told him I needed a week to discuss
it with my wife Lynn, take good counsel from trusted advisors, and to pray
about it. It was unanimous – we
were heading to Bridgeport.
In my new position as
Associate Minister for Community Outreach and Development/ Director of Prison
Ministries, I have been given the freedom to continue and advance other
projects around the state. The
Progressive Prison Project is a Greenwich-based project
that offers compassionate and experienced
assistance to all persons and families going
through these difficulties on all ends of the social and economic spectrum
. Similarly, I am involved in a project based in New Haven uses a strength-in-numbers
strategy to help empower those individuals and social networks
that are most affected by incarceration and inequities of the US criminal
justice system.
As a Greenwich resident,
it used to be easy for me to believe that things that happen in places like Bridgeport
could never happen to my family.
But that was before some difficult things happened in my family that
made me look at things differently and more clearly. And as I think about it, after events in Newtown and other recent events in this
county, how could any reasonable person ever again take that position?
Greenwich, New Canaan,
Darien, and other towns in Fairfield County are not so far away from Bridgeport,
only a few exits on the Merritt or I-95, or a few stops on Metro North. I invite all of my friends and
neighbors to email me, give me a call, or come visit me at the church - or I'll gladly come to you. Let’s talk about how we can work
together to make things better.
Jeff Grant, JD, M Div
Director, Progressive Prison Project
Associate Minister/Director of Prison
Ministries
First Baptist Church of Bridgeport
Connecticut
jg3074@columbia.edu
(203) 339-5887
Experienced and Compassionate support of families affected by
incarceration issues on all ends of the social and economic spectrum.
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