Toastmasters Training Can Help Reduce Recidivism

Discussing the incarceration and recidivism numbers boggles the mind. Consider the following examples

• About 2.5 million men and women incarcerated in the nation's federal and state prison systems.
• Annual incarceration costs per inmate, about $27,000 on average.
• Annual releasees, about 660,000
• Recidivists within three years after release, about 475,000
• Recidivism-driven incarceration costs increases, about $12.325 billion

Yet, the numbers reveal a bright side to this rather dreary picture. Consider these examples:

• An annual 10 percent decrease in recidivism means about 47,500 released men and women remain in their various communities, becoming profitable contributors.
• Let's estimate that with proper training and opportunity each of these anti-recidivists, moving along the change continuum, averaged about $27,000 in job income or home business revenue.
• Coupled with the savings in incarceration costs because these 47,500 men and women did not return to prison, the economic turnaround totals about $1.232 billion annually.

Now consider the Toastmasters connection.

Toastmasters International, founded in 1924 by Ralph Smedley, has more than 270,000 members in about 13,000 local clubs in about 113 countries worldwide. This organization has been for some time and continues as the world's premier non-profit corporation teaching competent communication and leadership skills. Those skills could help hundreds of thousand of men and women released from prison achieve S.U.C.C.E.S.S. after prison. The acronym stands for Sacrificing Until Clear Comprehensive Empowerment Secures Stability.

I refer to this as the T.E.TT. initiative. The first "T" stands for Transformation, defined as a complete paradigm shift from criminal thinking to the thinking that motivates community contributors. The "E" stands for Entrepreneurship--specifically designing, developing and deploying succesful home-based businesses, with a focus on the rapidly growing wellness industry. The wellness industry is slated to become the nation's next trillion dollar industry. I will discuss this segment of the initiative in a future article. The "TT" stands for Toastmasters Training.

As a Toastmaster, a person moving along the change continuum, from crime to contribution, will receive the most cost efficient training in competent communication and leadership available in the world. Let's crunch the numbers.

It costs $20 to become a Toastmaster for life. Annual membership fees total $72, paid semi-annually. That's $6 per month. That annual membership cost provides access to an absolutely outstanding and unprecedented two track education program. One track features learning how to become an effective public speaker, whether one-on-one, in small groups, or to large audiences. Everyone begins with the first level--Competent Communication. On this track, a new Toastmaster completes 10 speaking projects that help the person build a solid foundation of effective communication.

The communication track continues through three additional advanced levels.

The leadership track begins with the first level--Competent Leadership. As the person progresses along this level, they learn the following leadership skills: listening, critical thinking, giving feedback, time management, planning and implementation, organization and delegation, facilitation, motivation, mentoring and team building. This track continues through two additional levels.

When a Toastmaster completes the two education tracks, he or she receives the Distinguished Toastmasters Award (DTM), the top award given by the organization.

More importantly, Toastmasters interact with a wide variety of professionals that form a powerful, positive, encouraging and supportive network that serves all Toastmasters in innumerable ways.

Check the links in the Resources area of this article and visit our international website. Visit the District 37 website. District 37 leads and governs all the local Toastmasters clubs throughout North Carolina.

Okay, that introduces you to how and why anti-recidivists--men and women making the arduous trek from crime to contribution--hould participate in Toastmasters Training.

Why, then, should Toastmasters embrace this initiative? Consider just the numbers we dealt with earlier--47,500. Each of those men and women constitute prospective Toastmasters, local clubs and other benefits, including an untapped source of TI income. Let's just say we are able to bring in 30,000 new Toastmasters each year as part of this initiative. That's $600,000 in lifetime membership revenue, and $2.1 million each year in annual fees.

It's the classic win/win/win!

Anti-recidivists moving along with change continuum win with the valuable benefits of Toastmasters Training. Toastmasters International wins with the steady membership growth and revenue from a largely untapped market. Society overall wins, based upon the numbers I crunched for you earlier this in this artcile.

So Toastmasters, let's help reduce recidivism!