ABOUT US
Our Mission
Make the world a better place by helping the formerly incarcerated with housing and reintegration into society while educating the public about the social issues of the prison system post release.
OUR TEAM
The people behind the passion
Dr. Don Wright
Board Member
Don Wright's professional career has been as an educator in the public school system as a teacher, counselor, and coordinator of programs. He spent five years volunteering in the chapel program at the Draper, Utah prison. He became aware of the significant need for prisoner education. He founded the PrisonEd Foundation to provide noncredit, career-prep and college-prep correspondence courses to Utah prisoners and has corresponded with more than 1,500 of them. He has written two books and is finishing up a third with the tentative title Return Convicts or Contributors. He affirms proving suitable housing for the formerly incarcerated is critical for their success.
John Kimball
Board Member
John Kimball was born in Salt Lake City, Utah in 1968 and grew up there, attending East High School. He served a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in southern Italy from 1987 through 1989. In 1992 he married Allison Cutler and together they have raised nine children and now have five grandsons. John attended the University of Utah where he graduated with a bachelors degree in English and an MPA and has worked for Kimball Equipment Company for 30 years in various capacities and has loved his time there, developing many good friendships and enjoying his experience with the equipment and construction industries. John has been involved with helping prison inmates pursue education for many years and enjoys doing that and has developed many friendships through those efforts.
Paul Pace
Founder, Chairman of the Board, and CEO
Paul Pace is the founder and CEO of Valjeans' Foundation. He graduated from the University of Utah with a degree in Entrepreneurship and has an Associate's Degree in Sociology from Lassen Community College. His passion to aid the formerly incarcerated comes from his own experience struggling to find housing and employment after serving a sentence.
His experience as a formerly incarcerated individual has fueled his desire to help people who face rejection from society even though they are trying their best to change and make positive contributions.