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É Sylvester Outley knows the harsh realities of drug addiction and street life, but he also understands the power of transformation. Once one of the ten most wanted criminals in Texas, Outley, a 1969 Goshen College graduate now is founder and director of SELF Inc., one of the largest drug rehabilitation programs in Philadelphia, Pa.

Outley, along with Ed Î57 and Theo Hartzler Yoder Î58 of Archbold, Ohio, and Kathleen Zehr Î40 of Lowville, N.Y., will receive Goshen CollegeÎs most prestigious alumni award Ë the Culture for Service Award, named after the collegeÎs motto Ë during Alumni Weekend Oct. 4-6.

Outley will talk to students and the public in a convocation at 10 a.m. Oct. 4 in the collegeÎs Church-Chapel; his speech is titled øFaith Works.Ó During the convocation, two Goshen College students will receive Barnabas Servant Leadership Awards for their on- and off-campus service to others.

By age 30, Outley had been arrested 86 times for drug involvement and swindling, and was eventually sentenced to 10 years imprisonment in 1955 Ë years of paradox which he later said were dehumanizing, yet gave him self-understanding, allowing him to transcend drugs and gain meaning in life.

He earned his G.E.D. and graduated from Goshen with a social work major. He earned masterÎs and doctorate degrees before founding the Socio-Emotional Learning and Family Center in Chester County, Pa., a therapeutic residential program for criminals, as well as Outley Professional Services, an outpatient drug and alcohol facility in Philadelphia, which became SELF.

SELF now has a $4 million annual budget, encompassing emergency shelters, peer outreach, transitional housing and community revitalization programs. More than just sobriety training, SELF teaches that addicts must use the basic life principles of love, respect, truth, honesty, care, compassion and forgiveness to rebuild individual lives.

OutleyÎs work in transforming the cityÎs shelters from havens for addiction and crime into bases for recovery and wellness has become the model for PhiladelphiaÎs entire shelter system. And SELF continues to allow people to realize their full potential as øhumans made in GodÎs imageÓ by rebuilding their lives Ë one at a time

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