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The Texas Tribune
The Texas Tribune
National
Pooja Salhotra

East Texas nonprofit hopes small loans and job training will ease the hardships of leaving prison

Prison Texas East Texas Life Kevin Taylor Lufkin Mark Felix Michele Deitch Texas Tribune
Maurice Watts in San Augustine on October 4, 2022.
Maurice Watts in San Augustine on Oct. 4. After being released from prison in January, Watts received training and financial assistance from Legacy Institute for Financial Education, a nonprofit in nearby Lufkin. (Credit: Mark Felix for The Texas Tribune)

LUFKIN — Maurice Watts pulled up to a compact, red-brick building on a recent Thursday morning, dressed in black athletic clothes and a Houston Astros baseball cap.

He had spent the previous 12 hours driving an 18-wheeler truck for Common Disposal, a saltwater transport company based in San Augustine, Watts’ hometown in rural East Texas. Watts held an envelope in his hand with $238. It was the first of six loan repayments to the Legacy Institute for Financial Education, a Lufkin-based nonprofit organization that had lent him $1,350.

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