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The Path to Success

Andre Corbett TCR! Graduate

“Putting my best foot forward in all things that I do.”

“Coming from the streets, hope is gone,” recalls Andre Corbett. “I knew I was smart, but I didn’t see the opportunities. It was dismal and dark.”

Andre dropped out of school at the age of 16, began working at a fast-food restaurant and moved out on his own. “I always had a job but kept one foot in the streets,” he says. He obtained his diploma through an alternative high school but soon lost his job. “I was left sleeping in my car and was just going through some difficult times.”

Poor choices and lack of hope led to worse times. Andre was convicted of robbery and spent the next three years in prison, where he eventually learned about TCR!. Three days after his release, Andre was accepted into TCR! and spent the next five months in our Core Program while working evenings as a telemarketer. It was an exhausting schedule.

“I thought about quitting plenty of times,” Andre recalls. He saw other men in the halfway house who had returned to their old lifestyles and had begun selling drugs, and it would have been easy for Andre to join them. “During those times, when I would have weak moments where I would be thinking about quitting TCR!, I would call my coach or pull another staff person to the side and just tell them look, I really need to talk.”

With the encouragement of his coach and the staff at TCR!, Andre was able to maintain his focus on a positive future. Personal Empowerment also helped him find the inner strength to change his life. When asked what impact Empowerment had on him, Andre’s response is immediate: “The biggest impact of my life. Empowerment has allowed me to really see the potential that I have.” He also realized that his past mistakes didn’t determine his value as a human being and didn’t need to dictate his future path. “That’s really what Empowerment is for me: every day, putting my best foot forward in all things that I do.”

In May 2006, Andre obtained his final placement job with TCR!, helping other individuals like himself obtain jobs and stable places to live. He thrived in the position and was able to move into his own apartment and purchase a car. After more than one year on the job, Andre left TCR! to pursue work with ex-offenders. Part of his motivation for leaving was to open the door for another ex-offender to obtain his job.

In addition to working full-time, Andre is pursuing an associate’s degree in business management and plans to eventually pursue a master’s. He credits TCR! for providing him with the skills to manage his busy schedule. Andre has also become an articulate advocate for ex-offenders and plans to start a business that will employ ex-offenders and give back to organizations like TCR!.

“To transition people from poverty…is really huge,“ he says simply. “I really wish the whole world could go through Empowerment. It’s life-changing.”