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REALTOR® Eustace Payne Jr. witnessed so much turmoil, regret and pain in incarcerated men and those who had served their time. He met them in the Massachusetts prison system while working for 20 years as a probation officer and as an ordained minister.
These men felt continually judged by society, their families, other inmates and themselves for their worst moments—many of which happened decades ago.
“I realized the issue wasn’t just behavior but belief,” Payne says.
Their conversations centered around responsibility, fatherhood, faith and reentry into society. He founded the nonprofit Massachusetts Community Outreach Initiative (MCOI) in 2009 to further his cause. His objective for the organization remains to assist successful transitions back into their communities, families and jobs.
“My guys have committed violent crimes, but they are the most mature and most spiritual,” he says. “They learned a lot during their long time locked up. Most people won’t listen to them. But I get behind their story.”
Lifting a Man to a Whole New Life
When Lee Francois met Payne 12 years ago at a Saturday morning workshop at a minimum-security correctional facility, he feels he was at one of the lowest points in his life.
“I was carrying an enormous amount of shame from my past, my relationship with God was broken, and mentally and spiritually, I was struggling to believe that my life could become anything different,” Francois says. “Instead of defining me by my mistakes, he chose to walk alongside me.”
He still remembers Payne challenging him to confront the errors in his thinking and encouraged him to become a better version of himself.
“He saw potential in me before I could fully see it in myself,” Francois says. “One of the greatest gifts he gave me was connecting me with a business coach, which helped accelerate my growth as an entrepreneur.”
“I don’t hold them to their past. I know their past and know exactly what they have done. I need to know what they are capable of. I just need to know when we talk, if they can handle me being straight with them.”
—Eustace Payne Jr.
Francois is the founder and CEO of FGXstudios, media director of Bethel AME Church, and resident media technician of Berklee College of Music, Africana Studies Department in Boston.
“[Eustace] helped me rebuild my life. He became the father figure I didn’t have during one of the most important seasons of my life,” he adds.
During the COVID-19 lockdown, Payne no longer could meet with prisoners at the facilities, but continued to meet with individuals one-on-one in restaurants, church buildings, parks and through Zoom, along with impromptu calls when they needed help. He still makes time for these meetups today.
Opening the Door to Real Estate
Payne’s skills in understanding loans, neighborhoods, obstacles, the emotions of buying a house and so much more have guided these men who never thought they could buy a house. At least three of Payne’s MCOI clients have bought houses from him.
“They were difficult clients because they had trust issues, even though they knew me,” Payne says. But he stuck with them to help them gain that next step to the American dream.
He hopes that with grant money from NAR’s Good Neighbors program, he can support buying a house for MCOI where men can stay when they are released from prison, as well as meet with volunteers and probation officers.
Heralding the Man Who Changed Their Lives
“We don’t have children of our own, yet every Father’s Day, his phone fills up with messages from men whose lives he’s impacted over the years,” says his wife, Teresa Fernandes-Payne, who serves as MCOI's program director. “Sitting beside him reading those texts has brought me to tears, while he still seems genuinely surprised by them.”
She says her husband's focus is never on someone’s worst mistake.
“Instead, he encourages people to learn from their past, stop wasting energy on regret and begin doing the work to become who they’re capable of being,” Teresa says. “He lives authentically.”
“Eustace is a straight shooter who reads people exceptionally well. You can’t con him, and he notices details that most people miss.”
—Teresa Fernandes-Payne
One of those men whose life was turned around by Payne’s assistance was Sean Ellis. When he met Payne nine years ago, he already spent 22 years in prison for a crime he did not commit.
“I was released on bail and fighting an open case. I may even have been in the process of filming my docuseries on Netflix called ‘Trial 4,’” says Ellis, director and cofounder of Exoneree Network, Cambridge, Mass. The organization is a part of the New England Innocence Project, empowering people and families to rebuild and heal from long-term incarceration.
“Payne saw that I would be an asset to the classes he was facilitating and successfully advocated for me to be able to assist him as co-facilitator,” Ellis says. “Eustace also [officiated for my wedding] over five years ago, then proceeded to counsel us through some very hard times.”
In Payne’s debut book, “Chasin’ God, Not Church,” released Sept. 15, he explores the relationship among personal faith, institutional religion and community fellowship.
“It’s all about empathy,” Payne says. “It’s about using your ears. I’m the person who will be totally straight to them whether they like it or not. But I don’t hold them to their past.”
Eustace Payne Jr. of eXp Realty in Plymouth, Mass., has raised $95,000 and directly reached and supported over 300 men and their families.
