Prison Entrepreneurship Program (Official Page)

Over the past few weeks, we’ve shared stories of fathers rebuilding trust, restoring relationships, and creating new futures for their families.

We’ve heard from Raymond Herrera, Kyle and Parker Cox, Michael Etcheson, and servant leaders inside prison walls who are preparing to become the fathers their children deserve.

Today, we’re bringing those stories together.

In this special Father’s Day edition of the PEP newsletter, you’ll find the stories, reflections, and mission behind this year’s campaign.

A restored father can change a family.
A restored family can change a future.

Read the Father’s Day newsletter:

June 2026 Newsletter – Prison Entrepreneurship Program Behind every PEP statistic is a man – a son and many times a father – who wants nothing more than to reconnect and spend time with the ones he had to leave years ago. Though there is more to it than that, at the end of the day, that is really all that matters.

“Every time you hear one of these kids yell out ‘Daddy,’ it gets me every single time.”

PEP’s Michael Etcheson knows firsthand what it means to receive a second chance.

In this conversation with The Jeff Crilley Show, he shares how PEP helped him become a better father and why restoring families remains at the heart of our mission.

Watch the interview and learn more at PEP.org/fathers.

Michael Etcheson | Prison Entrepreurship Program (PEP) | The Jeff Crilley Show The Prison Entrepreneurship Program is a cause close to my heart. T...

We’re grateful to the Greater Houston Community Foundation for recognizing PEP alongside incredible organizations like Connective and Grameen America as part of its inaugural High-Impact Grantmaking initiative.

This collaboration reflects what’s possible when organizations come together around bold, proven solutions that strengthen families, expand economic opportunity, and create pathways for long-term success.

We’re honored to be part of this work in Houston and thankful for partners who believe in second chances, entrepreneurship, and transformational impact.

Read more here: https://ghcf.org/articles/from-investment-to-impact-inaugural-year-of-high-impact-grantmaking/?fbclid=IwY2xjawSELvVleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBicmlkETFXS1paWTAwR3NjMWVKZDh1c3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHmY3yTa1xtMgagMrIMgjKHBWCDKs0_uHRqixEKkJtQhruNKJxw5jYsUtlz5I_aem_bP-Ok-CzpVXHY84OIMv-gA

From Investment to Impact: Inaugural Year of High-Impact Grantmaking Learn how High-Impact Grantmaking supports organizations focused on economic mobility and breaking poverty cycles in Houston.

This month’s PEP newsletter is about what happens when transformation reaches beyond one man.

From Michael Etcheson’s powerful Barbed Wire to Business testimony, to the growing need for reentry housing and Life Caddies, to Gerald Dooley’s Mother’s Day reflection on the women who carry families through incarceration, May’s update is a reminder that PEP’s mission is bigger than business plans.

It is about transforming lives, restoring families, and rebuilding communities.

Read the May newsletter:

May 2026 Newsletter – Prison Entrepreneurship Program “I dropped out of school in the 7th grade. And the crazy part is … no one asked why, and no one came looking. Then 2018 happened. What I used to call a charge … I now call a blessing. Because it led me to PEP.”

Benjamin Postell’s journey to the Barbed Wire to Business stage didn’t start with entrepreneurship.

It started with addiction, arrests, and chaos.

Raised by good parents and once a standout athlete, Benjamin watched his life spiral into drugs, alcohol, and self-destruction. He openly shares how m**h, co***ne, and crack became his downfall before reaching a pivotal moment that changed everything.

“Sitting in the cop car for the 30th time… I realized everything was in my control.”

That realization became the turning point.

Through determination, faith, and the support system he found through PEP, Benjamin rebuilt his life from the ground up. Today, he owns and operates Postell Property Services, a growing construction company focused on remodels, renovations, and new builds.

Alongside his wife and family, he’s building more than homes. He’s building a future.

His story is proof that transformation is real, second chances matter, and purpose can emerge from even the darkest seasons of life.