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Success Magazine, Ltd.
Heroes: Father Peter Young
Published: February 2008
Peter Young Housing Industries & Treatment (PYHIT) is an alcohol and drug
rehabilitation program for incarcerated individuals. Father Young has selflessly
dedicated his life to this work.
His method for rehabilitation relies on three main elements: housing,
appropriate treatment, and job training and placement. His methods are used in
countless prisons, and he has facilities throughout New York State.
Success Magazine:
What does success mean to you?
Father Young: Seeing people become taxpayers. I try to help
people earn a paycheck, and the respect that goes along with that. Seeing people
succeed. When I see a person in need, I try to find a way to respond to that
need.
SM:
We write about people who have overcome obstacles to become successful. You have
done just that. How did you come up with the concept of providing individuals
with housing, treatment and a job?
FY: I was fortunate, because working in the south end [of
Albany], I had many people coming in and asking for things they desperately
needed. I listened to their needs, and I tried to meet those needs. After 18
years of working on Green Street at St. John’s, I transitioned into a different
opportunity. I tried to run a trucking company. I trained people to become
drivers, with a class 1 license. I bought tractor trailers and I put them on the
road as training vehicles, not as commercial vehicles. The people I might have
been competing with were not too happy and I kept getting sugar in my gas tanks.
I wound up with a couple hundred thousand dollars worth of debt. I went to the
Bishop and I told him of my debts, and of my need to work them off. He decided
to make me a chaplain in the prison system. There I saw the opportunity to start
a program to prepare people for their release, and their opportunity to become
an employable taxpayer.
SM:
What made you leave Mt. McGregor Correctional Facility and then start your
housing and treatment program?
FY: While running, operating and founding these alcohol and
drug programs, I heard many excuses. I knew I had to take away the excuses. I
had to find ways to get people employed. I met with the Department of Education
and the Department of Labor, to try and find where the jobs would be in the year
2000. It seemed that they would be in healthcare, and in the culinary and
hospitality industries. I tried to mold my program accordingly. Since people
with a felony would not be accepted into any kind of healthcare facility, I
focused on hospitality, hotels, and the culinary experience. I put together an
agreement with the State Union, that they would guarantee a job after I held an
individual in an internship position for 6 months. I had to find a place to have
these internships, so we developed restaurants, hotels and convenience stores;
food service outlets where I could train people and give them a job, to prepare
them for success in the private sector.
SM:
When you say “develop” hotels, restaurants and delis, you actually had to buy
and refurbish them. How did you begin to develop this aspect?
FY: Yes, we bought them, refurbished them, and made them a
commercial operation. I first needed to figure out who had a genuine desire to
do something with their life. The next step was to get them into a place that
would be supervised, and for that I needed to have housing. I had to develop a
housing network. We’re housing 3,000 people a night right now, so we have large
housing facilities all over the state, from Buffalo to Brooklyn. We try to never
charge more than 30% of their income- that is for food, room, and board. We want
them to build a little pot of money, so they will gravitate out of the program
making more room for new people coming in. And of course I have to have the
treatment. I have to make sure they stay in their treatment program. The final
thing is the job placement. There are three essential elements to the prison
rehabilitation program. I look at it like a three legged stool. Prisoners need
to stabilize with those three components. I call it HIT: housing, industry and
treatment.
SM:
What is the success rate of people coming out of your program?
FY: A study was done by the NY State Graduate School of
Criminal Justice a number of years ago. They took the roster of those that went
through the entire program, and the total number of individuals re-incarcerated
over ten years was 8%. This means that 92% succeeded. Those that have not gone
through the program are running a rate of about 75% re-incarceration.
SM:
That is an outstanding statistic. The program obviously works.
FY: You need to have all of the things in place to make it
work. Take away any one of them and we lose 20%. Without any of the three legs
in place, the percentages would quickly drop.
SM:
You personally have invested a lot of your time, labor and effort to this cause.
How do you achieve a sense of balance in your life?
FY: Well I have always been a volunteer. I have to admit that
it has been a rough road trying to keep the economics alive. About 400 people
every week wonder if I am going to meet their payroll. I hope it will be there.
I pray to God every day that it does come in. Right now the program is so big
that I have to worry about the payroll, about lawsuits… difficulties that face
any entrepreneur. I have to worry about the 97 locations that I have around the
state; where they are, what they are doing, and how they are succeeding, or
falling flat on their face. I then must make strategic moves that will hopefully
make it a better program, and allow us to help more people. For that I need
properties, licenses, and a dedicated staff. Pulling it together from an
administrative standpoint is basically where I am right now. I don’t get the
chance to be with the clients as much as I would like.
SM:
You have been doing this for many years. You also have a church that you work
with in Bolton Landing?
FY: That ministry has been a foundation for me. I find in the
parishioners, a family. They have reached out to me, often even inviting me to
their homes for dinner. It has been a very supportive arrangement. Now I have a
location in the south end of Albany, and I am working on evangelization. Sunday
at 4:00 I have services, where there are no collections and a free meal. When I
wanted to become a priest, I had the intention of serving.
That is what I’ve always believed in. I try to help people to become a little
more of what God intended them to be.
SM:
At some point you are going to have to take a step back. Do you have a
succession plan within your organization?
FY: We have strong leaders that have been with me for over 25
years. I am not inventing anything here, they are inventing. I am trying to
raise the money to keep them on the payroll and to keep them moving in the right
direction. I supervise all of them, but they are dedicated and committed. What
we are doing will definitely have a solid foundation. You are not the first one
to ask that. At 78, everyone is beginning to wonder how long I can continue to
do this. As long as I am able, I will be here. I don’t know how long I have to
make it all happen. Right now I am working to keep it all together, by raising
money and depending on the strong administrative staff that I have.
SM:
Not everyone is familiar with what you do. Not everyone believes in what you do.
How can entrepreneurs and other business owners help to support your program?
FY: In the late 50’s I started the crusade to decriminalize. I
tried to find out how I could make that happen. On Green Street, I would run
into people who I really admired, and yet they were consistently being brought
in for drug problems and other difficulties. When they weren’t using, I found
these individuals to be completely trustworthy. I lived in a house with 24 of
them. I got to know them as a community and as a family. In doing that, I found
a different approach. I needed to make a systemic change. These people needed a
better opportunity. I heard what they said, and I took it to the legislature. I
have been working with the legislature for 48 years as an advocate, and always
as a volunteer. I have written many of the laws that we have now on addiction.
It began with the support, agreement and cooperation of Governor Rockefeller. He
was the first major believer in my idea of decriminalization. He empowered me to
make changes. I have always been up there on the hill, because if you are going
to make a change you need to be where the power is.
SM:
You have 97 buildings. If you had to put a number value to your properties, what
would it be?
FY: I haven’t sat down and tried to do that, but our
operational budget is over 20 million a year. As far as real estate goes, we
have 6 corporations, each with a different purpose in working toward the mission
of the organization. They are all run by very competent people who I keep in
touch with each day by e-mail. When they want to make a move, I have to meet
with our executive team to discuss whether or not we can afford to do it.
SM:
You certainly have the entrepreneurial spirit. You had the vision. You created
this from nothing, and it is has worked. How can other entrepreneurs or
individuals help you in your efforts?
FY: I have learned that the only way to sell this program to
people is with economics. I am dealing with individuals who are not liked. They
are criminals. They have an addiction or another problem and therefore people
aren’t going to be immediately sympathetic to their needs. I know that the only
thing I have in my favor is to show the economic side of it. I saw in the paper
yesterday, that Rikers Island costs 135 dollars a day. You add that up over 365
days and it is approximately 50,000 dollars a year per person, to keep them in
jail. Our cost is about 7,000 dollars per year per person. The taxpayer is a
winner if they are allowing our programs to expand. The savings are significant.
SM:
What does the future entail? Where do you see the program heading?
FY: I look for the citizens of the state to begin to understand
that the economy can be improved by allowing programs such as ours, with the
idea of rehabilitating people. I think that is the key; to try and destigmatize
the negativity, and to assist people in their mission of recovery. From our
point of view, my role is to take away the excuses.
SM:
You have faith in God that people will be healed, but you can’t heal them. How
do you deal with the disappointment?
FY: I keep opening their doors. They may fail initially, but we
go back and try again until we get it right. The opportunity is still there. We
make them do what is needed, to improve upon their statistic of success. We have
an awful lot of what we call “program butterflies.” They go in and out of our
programs. But every time they do it, I make it a little more difficult. They
have to show their sincerity. We test their dedication to be sure they are
serious about changing. Otherwise we are wasting our resources.
SM:
What advice would you give to people who are just starting out in business?
FY: Have a focus. Be focused on what you want to accomplish.
Mine was getting people into a better kind of life. That is where I started
from, and I maintain that focus. I look at the problems that people have and I
try to figure out a way to get them into one of our programs. I try to lead them
to water... but I can’t make them drink. I show them the door, but it is their
choice whether or not they walk through it.
SM:
If you had to describe yourself in one word, what would it be?
FY: Persistence. That is the only thing I think I’ve got. I
sort of wear people down. I have maintained my focus to try and develop a
program that can help people. I know my chances. I know what I am limited to. I
am not a brilliant guy, but I am a persistent guy.