The Commonwealth Beat with Laura LeBeau - Episode 72 - 03/09/25

The Commonwealth Beat with Laura LeBeau is a statewide Public Affairs program airing on all of the Seven Mountains Media Pennsylvania radio stations.  How does a woman who was in and out of jail, and on and off probation for more than 20 years turn her life around, using nothing more than a her sheer determination to make it happen?  That's the situation LeRoya Ryan faced, as she left the Lebanon County Correctional Facility at age 35 in 2013.  What followed was years of struggle, but never a relapse into the life of crime that dogged her from the time she was a teenager.  And what followed was a homegrown, out-of-the-box reentry program that has started helping others to turn their lives around.  The plan, Becoming You Mentoring, has caught the attention and support of the Lebanon County District Attorney and is now a go-to program for low level, non-violent offenders to undertake as a condition of probation, so they can take back their lives, too.  Hear about LeRoya Ryan's amazing journey from criminal to mentor and life-changer.  in the PA-mazing segment, we journey to Lancaster County in South Central Pennsylvania............ for a visit to the Ephrata Cloister, an 18th century monastic community that preached celebacy and strict religious discipline, before the American colonies ever thought about becoming independent from Great Britain.