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Connections

Coming Up On Connections: Thursday, September 29th

Prison Entrepreneurship Program

First hour: Supporting unconventional entrepreneurs

Second hour: The controversy over fee waivers in the Monroe County Clerk's Office

Rochester native Marcus Hill was a model of success: a high school graduate, an Army veteran. But, some bad decisions led to a 17 year prison sentence for possession of marijuana. After five and a half years, he made parole and moved to a unit that had something called the Prison Entrepreneurship Program (P.E.P.). That’s when, Hill says, “the lights came on.” Hill dedicated himself to the program, which led to him launch his own apparel business. Now, he visits 65 prisons around Texas, recruiting others for P.E.P. His success story is one of many fostered by the program and the benefits of entrepreneurial skills. Hill is a featured speaker at an international entrepreneurship conference held in Rochester Thursday through Saturday. We’ll preview that conference, and we’ll talk about supporting unconventional entrepreneurs. Our guests:

  • Marcus Hill, prison recruiter for the Prison Entrepreneurship Program and founder of Chosen Apparel and Design
  • Dr. Duncan Moore, professor of optical engineering and vice provost for the Ain Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Rochester
  • Dr. Richard DeMartino, director of the Simone Center for Student Innovation and Entrepreneurship, and professor and chair for innovation and entrepreneurship at RIT

Then in our second hour, Monroe County Clerk Adam Bello has expressed concerns in the past month about fee waivers processed by the previous administration. He says when Cheryl Dinolfo was County Clerk, her office waived fees for a targeted group of individuals in the amount of $35,000. Bello says there should not be favoritism for anyone in government. Dinolfo says fees were waived as an expression of good customer service. Adam Bello will join us in studio to discuss the controversy. We also invited Cheryl Dinolfo to join the conversation, but her office declined the invitation.

Connections
Evan Dawson is the host of "Connections with Evan Dawson." He joined WXXI in January 2014 after working at 13WHAM-TV, where he served as morning news anchor. He was hired as a reporter for 13WHAM-TV in 2003 before being promoted to anchor in 2007.