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After his time helping those at Attica Prison, Emory continued his work in counseling and involved himself in programs that educated young people about the dangers of addiction and violence. One of these programs, Too Young To Be High, became Emory’s introduction to UMADAOP. It turned out that UMADAOP’s facility manager at the time needed someone with Emory’s background, and this became his entrance into the team that he’d eventually serve for what is now two and a half decades. Throughout his career at UMADAOP, Emory has played many roles for the organization, including that of a board member, Board Chair, the director of UMADAOP’s B.E.S.T. program, among others. Emory took the time to explain his interest in B.E.S.T. The acronym broke down to Building Effective Solutions Together, and the program functioned by eliciting the time of counselors who were sent to regularly visit juvenile correctional institutes in Ohio.Their goal was to form relationships with those soon to be released.The visits were an opportunity for inmates with less than 3 months’ remaining detention to have a strong, reliable resource upon returning to their home and previous way of life.

B.E.S.T. sought to avoid leaving these young men and women without guidance and help upon their reentrance into society. Emory and the B.E.S.T team knew that many of those soon to be released would return to the same struggles and scarce resources that might have paved their way to imprisonment in the first place.The counselors established strong relationships with prisoners so that, once released, each person could have someone to turn to for advice, relief, and genuine care. “The program did a lot of good work,” Emory noted. While B.E.S.T. did not last long because of low funding, he believes that the initiative made consequential strides in the lives of those the program served. Emory recounted some of the history that he’d both studied and lived. He reminisced some of the changes that have happened over the course of his time in this field; spoke of the crack epidemic that took place from the 70’s-90’s, as well as how those times have influenced those who are using the same or similar substances today.

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