Catherine Hoke

Catherine Hoke
Alma mater University of California, Berkeley
Occupation Founder and CEO, Defy Ventures
Spouse(s) Charles Hoke

Catherine Hoke is the founder and former CEO of Defy Ventures, a United States-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.[1][2] In 2013, Catherine Hoke, was elected an Ashoka Fellow [3] and was named in Fast Company’s 2014 Most Creative People in Business.[4] In 2015 Hoke received the MDC Partners Humanitarian Award on behalf of Defy Ventures.[5] In 2009, she was banned from state prisons in Texas for having sexually inappropriate relationships with program participants.[6]

Background

Teaching Entrepreneurship in Prison

In 2004, Catherine Hoke toured several Texas prisons and discovered that many of the incarcerated men she met possessed strong business acumen, sales skills, and entrepreneurial qualities.[7] She also found that many gangs and drug rings are run similarly to corporations —with bylaws, bookkeeping functions, marketing strategies, and quality control programs.[8] Following this, Hoke and executive volunteers conducted a business 101 seminar during which they ran a business plan competition. These efforts become the Prison Entrepreneurship Program (PEP), a statewide organization in Texas teaching entrepreneurship and character development to prisoners. As of 2015, the PEP had graduated 600 students, and claims to have helped launch 60 start-ups, achieved an employment rate of 98%, and resulted in a recidivism rate of less than 5%.[9] In 2009, she was banned from Texas prisons after she was discovered to have had sexual relations with four program graduates. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice deemed those relationships inappropriate and banned Hoke from entering any Texas prison and threatened to extend this ban to PEP if Hoke continued her involvement with the program. She resigned shortly afterwards.[10] [11]

Defy Ventures

After leaving PEP [12] in October 2010, Hoke founded Defy Ventures in New York City.[13] At Defy, Hoke was accused by Defy's former president of misleading donors as well as exaggerating the success of the program and not accurately tracking outcomes of former program participants.[14] Hoke was also accused by several former employees and program participants of sexual harassment and sexual assault.[15]

References

  1. ↑ "Defy Ventures Looks For a Few Good Felons in Oakland". criminalu.co. Retrieved September 4, 2015.
  2. ↑ "Helping ex-criminals develop start-ups". nytimes.com. Retrieved September 4, 2015.
  3. ↑ "Meet New Ashoka Fellow". forbes.com. Retrieved September 4, 2015.
  4. ↑ "Most Creative People 2014". fastcompany.com. Retrieved September 3, 2015.
  5. ↑ "MDC Partners Presents the 2015 MDC Partners Humanitarian Award to Defy Ventures". yahoo.com. Retrieved September 3, 2015.
  6. ↑ Ward, Mike (November 13, 2009). "Prison volunteer banned after admitting improper relationships with ex-cons". Austin American-Statesman.
  7. ↑ "The Economy of Punishment". hbr.org. Retrieved September 4, 2015.
  8. ↑ "Foundingstory". defyventures.org. Retrieved September 3, 2015.
  9. ↑ "Foundingstory". defyventures.org. Retrieved September 3, 2015.
  10. ↑ "Ex-Cons Relaunching Lives as Entrepreneurs". Inc. Retrieved September 17, 2017.
  11. ↑ "Startup Gets Tech-Industry Experts to Mentor Convicts". Bloomberg. Retrieved September 17, 2017.
  12. ↑ "Ex-inmates defy odds". foxbusiness.com. Retrieved September 4, 2015.
  13. ↑ "Most Creative People". fastcompany.com. Retrieved September 4, 2015.
  14. ↑ https://www.thedailybeast.com/silicon-valleys-favorite-prison-reformer-accused-of-sexual-assault-and-harassment
  15. ↑ https://www.thedailybeast.com/silicon-valleys-favorite-prison-reformer-accused-of-sexual-assault-and-harassment
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