SECOND CHANCE KINGS
COMING HOME
TO LEXINGTON.
For men coming home to Lexington — and for the families waiting on them. A starting point, not a brochure.
The first ninety days, sequenced
The order that holds up
- Check in with supervision before anything else. Everything below this line is at risk if that appointment gets missed.
- Get the documents moving on day one. They are the slowest part, most doors will ask for ID, and the ID process itself usually asks for ID you may not have yet.
- Lock a phone number and keep it. One call is all an employer makes.
- Test the transportation. Not a plan for a ride — an actual ride, timed, before it matters.
- Take income, then improve it. A first job is a bridge rather than a verdict.
- Leave housing until later. A room early on is stronger than a lease that outruns the income.
The local picture
Youth sports leagues and churches do most of the organizing here. The downtown amphitheater and the events calendar around it have become the closest thing the town has to a shared living room.
Owner-operated service businesses dominate: HVAC, landscaping, dental and medical practices, gyms, insurance agencies, restaurants. Most were started by someone who already lived here and already had the customers.
Rooftops arrive first and commercial follows a few years behind, which means services are perpetually catching up to the population that already moved in. None of this is a judgment about anybody. It is terrain, and terrain is easier to cross when somebody has described it first.
For the full context behind this, see more of Ben Lovro's writing on real estate, business and systems.
The local logistics
The first problem in Lexington is transportation, not employment. There is no practical bus service, so restoring a driver's license and getting access to a vehicle comes before anything else. Once mobile, the work is there: restaurants, retail, warehouse, landscaping crews and the construction trades hire steadily, and county offices are concentrated in town rather than scattered.
Almost everyone drives, and a large share of working residents commute east toward Columbia every morning. Transit is effectively absent west of the river.
Start with SC Works and 211. For record questions, the Solicitor's office serving Lexington County, South Carolina Legal Services or SC Appleseed. County records are at Lexington County Judicial Center, 205 E Main St, Lexington, SC 29072. If you are in crisis, call 988, or 911 if anyone is in immediate danger.
How to handle the question
Briefly, early, and facing forward. One or two sentences: what happened, that it is behind you, what you have done since. Then move to the work. Do not perform remorse and do not over-explain.
- Federal Bonding Program. Free fidelity bonds of $5,000, issued to employers who hire people considered high-risk to place. It is insurance against employee dishonesty and it costs the employer nothing. In South Carolina the contact is FederalBonding@dew.sc.gov.
- Work Opportunity Tax Credit. A federal tax credit worth up to $2,400 when an employer hires someone formerly incarcerated. South Carolina handles it at WOTC@dew.sc.gov.
- Check before relying on either. Terms change. DEW is the source, not a website.
- Neither one hires anybody. They remove a reason to say no. They do not make the case.
The case is commercial and it is short. A person who has come through this and means to stay out of it is frequently the most motivated applicant an employer will see.
Hiring skews part-time and young, drawn from a large high school population. Experienced full-time staff are harder to land because anyone with credentials can commute to Columbia for more money.
More for Lexington
The rest of the Lexington material
The full market read for this area is on the Lexington, SC site. The deeper treatment of reentry support is on the topic site.
Frequently asked
Questions people actually ask
Do you work in Lexington?
Yes. Lexington and the rest of Lexington County are inside the regular footprint, along with much of South Carolina.
Is this a government program?
No. Second Chance Kings is part of Ben Lovro's Kingdom Alliance service work. It is not affiliated with the South Carolina Department of Corrections — which runs its own separately-named Second Chance Program — or with any other state agency.
Do I have to be religious to get help?
No. Ben's faith is his own and it is why he does this. Nobody has to share it, agree with it, or attend anything to be treated decently.
What is hardest about coming home to Lexington?
The first problem in Lexington is transportation, not employment. There is no practical bus service, so restoring a driver's license and getting access to a vehicle comes before anything else. Once mobile, the work is there: restaurants, retail, warehouse, landscaping crews and the construction trades hire steadily, and county offices are concentrated in town rather than scattered.
Make your next move
A year from now, what will you be glad you started today?
You don't need another promise that everything will be easy. You need something useful to learn — and a next step you're willing to take.