Time behind bars has inspired a man to make a difference in the community

In prison he changed for the better.

“Growing up in Texas, I had a great imagination,” said Juan Martinez. “I always imagined myself becoming a pilot one day. Later in my teens, I wanted to be an architect, but also thought that maybe one day I could be useful in helping troubled teenagers. I never thought I would be doing what I'm doing.”

Today, Martinez is the director of development and communications at Kindway, a Westerville-based organization that helps people released from the state prison system.

At first, however, Martinez took a completely different path.

“I used marijuana as a teenager and sold it to support my addiction. At the time, my girlfriend was 15 and I was 17. We dropped out of school to work dead-end jobs and take care of her younger siblings, younger nieces and nephews, and her mother. After a while, child welfare services came to our house to take the nieces and nephews away from us because we were unable to care for them. So we tried to find better jobs and a bigger home to get the kids back under control,” he said.