Lose friends you had when you got into trouble, Clarett advises ex-offenders

YOUNGSTOWN

The people with whom one associates are critical to one’s future path, former Ohio State University football standout Maurice Clarett told an audience at Youngstown State University’s Kilcawley Center.

“Separate yourself from who you were with when you got into the trouble,” Clarett urged ex-offenders who are trying to live a new life.

Clarett spoke at Wednesday’s Hope Conference, which offered a host of services to help former prisoners adjust to, and function successfully in their new lives as free people.

“Everything comes down to who you surround yourself with,” said Clarett, who served 31⁄2 years in prison on aggravated-robbery and concealed-weapon charges and was released in April 2010.

“Show me your friends, and I’ll show you your future,” he said.

“If you’re around a bunch of dudes who lose, you’re going to lose,” he warned.

Clarett, 31, who had 80 speaking engagements around the country in 2013 and 2014, said he is now in the packaging, trucking and rental-home businesses.

The conference, which was free, was organized by a collaboration of Mahoning County agencies that assist people returning from prison to society to regain their lives and livelihoods.

Among the services represented at the event were driver’s license reinstatement with the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles on-site, child-support guidance, housing and energy assistance, employment opportunities with companies hiring on site, medical care resources and referrals, transportation assistance, clothing and household needs, emergency shelter and financial counseling.

Read more about the event and its services in Thursday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.