a COOL ex-con

Mr. Earl Baldwin burst through a door and caught up to the man he was chasing and slammed him up against a chalkboard. The 25 people sitting quietly in the room, eight of them teenagers, looked on at the reality happening before them. The eight teenagers sat back in their chairs and knew all too well what it's like to be apprehended and handcuffed.

Earl Baldwin, an ex-con, was playing the role of a cop and attempting to make the play look as real as he could for the teenagers, adjudicated youth in CISP, Allegheny County (Pennsylvania) Juvenile Court's Community Intensive Supervision Program.

Mr. Baldwin was released from prison a year ago, at the age of 41, after serving more than 18 years for burglary charges. He partnered with Cynthia Hopson-Smith and purchased the former Pittsburgh Headliners on East Ohio Street and changed the name to Hallelujah Anyhow!! Gospel Talk Barber Shop. He hired several men he met in barber training in prison and started mixing haircuts with social and spiritual outreach in the streets.

Mr. Baldwin's plays are geared to show young men that they have options available to them besides violence. The plays incorporate angry, frustrated, vulnerable characters in real life scenes that often play out before abuse and shootings happen. He expresses that unchecked anger is the nemesis of many dysfunctional families.

Today Mr. Baldwin is married and owns a business with the intention of opening another one, "I had a pop who didn't care about me. I was going to get in a bus in a space where they put luggage to get away," he hopes to provide hope to those in the same situation, "Nobody said, 'C'mon, Earl, this is the way.'"

Here's to you Mr. Earl Baldwin for not only turning your life around but for showing the youth of today that there are options besides violence-stay positive, stay generous, and STAY COOL!

What do you think of Mr. Baldwin and what he is doing with his life now?