Catherine Rohr was a member of the “one percent.” An investment banker by trade, Catherine generated $32 million in equity investments while working for Summit Partners and American Securities Capital Partners. At the tender age of 26, she was earning over $200,000 annually, with a promise of much more to come.
And then she went to prison.
No, Rohr wasn’t arrested for embezzelment or securities fraud. Rather, Rohr accompanied Prison Fellowship founder Chuck Colson on a tour of a Texas prison on Easter Sunday. “I thought I was going on a zoo tour,” she now confesses. “I got there and saw people – people who were in need of as much grace as I was.”
In response to that visit, Rohr founded the Prison Entreprenuership Program (PEP), providing in-prison business management training. Rohr and her husband left Wall Street and moved to Houston, in order to be closer to those she was seeking to help.
The results speak for themselves. According to the PEP website, 98 percent of those taking part in the program are gainfully employed, and recidivism rates are below 10 percent.
Now, Rohr has started a new program, Defy Ventures, to assist former inmates in starting their own businesses. Ex-prisoners go through a yearlong training program with one-on-one mentoring with business executives. The “signature program” of Defy Ventures is a series of competitions for business plans, awarding up to $150,000 in in seed money to the winning plans.
While neither program is faith-based, Rohr’s Christian faith is clearly evident in what she does. The “ten driving values” of PEP are “derived from Judeo-Christian values,” according to the website. “We do not know of a better catalyst for transformation than God, and participants desiring to pursue their walk with God are encouraged to do so, though no one is required to do so. Spiritual teaching on topics such as generosity, obedience, integrity and purity is a vital part of PEP.”
Programs like PEP and Defy Ventures, and individuals like Christine Rohr, are the continuing legacy of Prison Fellowship founder Chuck Colson. These are the “little platoons” of civil society mentioned by Edmund Burke – the grassroot efforts by citizens that bring about real and lasting societal change. Chuck is no doubt proud to know that God’s work continues to be done by those like Christine Rohr who are willing to take a chance for the sake of the Gospel.
The Christian Science Monitor has a good story on the launch of Defy Ventures. You can read it here.