Bev Smith

Bev Smith began working with the incarcerated in 2006 as a volunteer with the Archdiocese of Cincinnati's Prison Ministry Team. Facilitating various faith-based classes to men at Ohio's Lebanon Correctional Institution and women at Dayton Correctional Institution, Bev learned quickly that when people believe that you care about their story, they will trust you and trust themselves to address the areas of their lives that have led them to incarceration.

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Bev has decades of organizational and administrative experience and since 2019 has facilitated the Damascus Reenty class in multiple prisons throughout Ohio. She continues to see unprecedented attendance, completion, and participation in her classes because of the authentic experience she provides and the reminder that she will work hard, but not harder than her class participants do.

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"You go in there thinking you're going to teach something, but you come out with so much more," Bev says. "I love seeing someone "get it" and change because of something we've said or something they've learned from us or themselves. I love seeing the difference."

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Bev's graduates frequently contact Damascus for employment opportunities and to keep staff apprised of their post-incarceration plans and successes.

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Contact Bev Smith here.