Faithventure Forum

I am so excited we are nearing our start-up funding goals for our planned Purple Door Coffee shop to employ some of the large number of homeless young adults in the Denver area. Our talented Purple Door leadership team of Madison Chandler and Mark Smesrud have done a fantastic job sharing the vision for this project with the community positioning us for the next step which is renting the shop location. Please keep praying for this project and stay tuned for more updates as we continue developing this program. And here's my thoughts on Purple Door in a recent interview: Jim Reiner Interview from Purple Door Coffee on Vimeo .

If an ex-offender finds a job upon exiting prison, research shows that his or her chances of going back to jail are significantly reduced saving the $50,000 a year it costs a state to incarcerate an individual. With that in mind, Belay Enterprises' latest start-up New Beginnings Custom Woodworks employs and job-trains ex-offenders like Patrick Stewart in a faith-based cabinet shop venture t hat was recently profiled on 9News and in the Denver Post . "I got out of jail 9 years ago, but was unable to find a job because of my past offense," Patrick says. "It was only when New Beginnings was willing to take a chance on me was I able to get off welfare and start supporting my family."  Before starting at New Beginnings, Patrick had never built anything before. Now he's become an expert in crafting beautiful custom cabinets. "At one point in my life, I was just empty flesh walking around," he told the Denver Post , "Now, I have