Turnaround Tuesday’s initial inception came in 2014 when former Baltimore Mayor Stefanie Rawlings-Blake visited the Oliver District and expressed her intention to clean up the area.

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Pastor Marshall Prentice, whose parish was located in the district, saw an opportunity to tackle the root of the problem: unemployment and

drug use.

 

“I looked out the window [of my office] and saw young men and women out on the corners when they should have been in school,” Pastor Prentice recalls. He and his fellow ministers went out and asked folks, “If we could get you a job, would you leave the corner? Would you come to what we offered? After you get a job, would you promise to help recruit others?”

 

Many said yes, but their criminal records and lack of opportunities had made it nearly impossible in the past. Pastor Prentice was determined to break these cycles. Unfortunately, the collaboration with the mayor’s office to start a program never materialized. Undeterred, Pastor Prentice and a small group of passionate minds came together to rally local education and healthcare systems and launch the Turnaround Tuesday movement.

 

10 years later, the movement has expanded to West Baltimore and given over 2,000 men and women a second chance. Organizations in other cities and states have visited hoping to replicate its success, while hiring agencies, impressed by their retention rate, have asked the Turnaround Tuesday team to train their employees.

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“These are men and women who never thought they could be at the same table, who were marginalized and are now seeing themselves beyond that,” he says.  “They have learned that power is within and there are things you can do to make a change.”

 

Looking ahead, Pastor Prentice hopes to see the movement expand and help more men and women. He takes pride in knowing that something so remarkable had its start in Baltimore.

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