KINGDOM ALLIANCE
REENTRY RESOURCES
IN LEXINGTON COUNTY.
A resource page, not a program brochure. Ben Lovro served five years. He is a few years ahead of this walk, not above it.
For the first-ninety-days walkthrough, see the Lexington coming-home guide.
What coming home to Lexington actually involves
The first problem in Lexington is transportation, not employment. There is no practical bus service, so restoring a driver's license and getting access to a vehicle comes before anything else. Once mobile, the work is there: restaurants, retail, warehouse, landscaping crews and the construction trades hire steadily, and county offices are concentrated in town rather than scattered.
Almost everyone drives, and a large share of working residents commute east toward Columbia every morning. Transit is effectively absent west of the river.
None of that is a judgment about anybody. It is a logistics problem, and logistics problems have solutions if you know the terrain before you start.
Where to start
Program details change. Call and confirm rather than trusting any website, this one included.
- SC Works centers. Run by the South Carolina Department of Employment and Workforce. Job search help, interview practice and skills training, including services delivered to people still incarcerated.
- 211. The statewide United Way referral line — food, transportation, utilities and housing, by county.
- South Carolina Legal Services and the SC Appleseed Legal Justice Center for civil legal questions and plain-language guides.
- The Solicitor's office serving Lexington County for expungement applications on anything other than a non-conviction in Magistrate or Municipal Court.
- SC Probation, Parole and Pardon Services for supervision and pardon questions.
- 988 for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline; 911 if anyone is in immediate danger.
County records for this area are handled at Lexington County Judicial Center, 205 E Main St, Lexington, SC 29072.
Everything on this site is an extension of Ben Lovro's main site.
Record relief, in outline
Expungement
The record is destroyed. Once it is done, the offense no longer shows up on a background check. It is available only for certain charges and certain convictions.
- Possibly eligible: dismissed charges, not-guilty verdicts, charges that ended through diversion, certain first-offense misdemeanors, and some drug possession convictions.
- Generally not: traffic convictions and fish-and-wildlife convictions.
- Timing: waits run from about one year up to twenty, counted once the sentence is finished, probation and parole included.
- Where: through the court itself for a non-conviction out of Magistrate or Municipal Court; through the Solicitor's office in the county where the charge or conviction occurred for everything else.
- Cost: published fees have been $250 to the Solicitor, $35 to the Clerk of Court and $25 to SLED. They vary by type, and some types are exempt.
Pardon
A different remedy entirely. The conviction stays on the record, marked as pardoned. Applications go to SC Probation, Parole and Pardon Services, and the decision is discretionary though the door is wider.
This is not legal advice. Records are specific and these rules are not intuitive. Take yours to the Solicitor's office, to South Carolina Legal Services, or to your own attorney.
For Lexington employers
Hiring skews part-time and young, drawn from a large high school population. Experienced full-time staff are harder to land because anyone with credentials can commute to Columbia for more money.
Two federal programs exist precisely to absorb the risk that makes employers hesitate.
The Federal Bonding Program provides free $5,000 fidelity bonds to employers who hire people considered high-risk to place. It is insurance against employee dishonesty, at no cost to the employer. In South Carolina it runs through DEW at FederalBonding@dew.sc.gov.
The Work Opportunity Tax Credit gives a federal tax credit of up to $2,400 for hiring someone formerly incarcerated. The South Carolina contact is WOTC@dew.sc.gov. Verify current terms with DEW before relying on either.
The commercial argument is simpler than the programs. Someone who has been through this and wants to stay out of it is frequently the most motivated person who will apply. Neither program gets anyone the job — the work does that.
The encouraging part, carefully stated
South Carolina's recidivism rate was 18% in 2019 — tied for third lowest in the nation, down from 31% in 2008 — according to figures published by the state's workforce and corrections agencies. Confirm the current figure before quoting it anywhere.
That is encouraging and it is not a promise about anyone. What it suggests is that the people who do not go back generally have three things: somewhere stable to sleep, income within the first couple of months, and at least one person paying genuine attention.
None of those three is out of reach and none of them is luck. They are the things worth building first, because they are what the numbers keep pointing at.
Youth sports leagues and churches do most of the organizing here. The downtown amphitheater and the events calendar around it have become the closest thing the town has to a shared living room.
Kingdom Alliance is Ben Lovro’s service work and Second Chance Kings sits under it. Neither is affiliated with the South Carolina Department of Corrections, which runs its own separately-named Second Chance Program, or with any other state agency.
What hiring looks like locally
The first job is a bridge, not a verdict, and it helps to know in advance what kind of bridge this place offers.
Lexington's economy is built on households rather than industry. People earn their money elsewhere and spend it here, so retail, healthcare, services and construction carry the town. The sectors that dominate here are retail and consumer services, healthcare, residential construction, education and local government, and entry-level hiring tends to follow them. The Lexington Medical Center system, county government, the school system and the retail corridors along US-378 and Sunset Boulevard are where most people who work in Lexington actually work.
Owner-operated service businesses dominate: HVAC, landscaping, dental and medical practices, gyms, insurance agencies, restaurants. Most were started by someone who already lived here and already had the customers. Smaller employers are often the ones who will actually sit with a candidate and hear the whole answer, because the decision is not being made by a screening system.
Drive fifteen minutes west or south and the county turns agricultural fast. Lexington County is peach and produce country, and the farm economy at the town's edge is not decorative.
Frequently asked
Questions people actually ask
Is there a reentry program in Lexington?
Second Chance Kings is Ben Lovro's work under Kingdom Alliance. It is not a government program or a facility. The agencies listed above are where formal services live — start with SC Works and 211.
Do I have to be religious to get help?
No. Ben's faith is his own and it is why he does this. Nobody has to share it, agree with it, or attend anything to be treated decently.
What is hardest about coming home to Lexington specifically?
The first problem in Lexington is transportation, not employment. There is no practical bus service, so restoring a driver's license and getting access to a vehicle comes before anything else. Once mobile, the work is there: restaurants, retail, warehouse, landscaping crews and the construction trades hire steadily, and county offices are concentrated in town rather than scattered.
Where do I apply for expungement in Lexington County?
For a non-conviction in Magistrate or Municipal Court, through that court. For everything else, through the Solicitor's office in the county where the charge or conviction occurred.
I am an employer — what is my actual liability?
A question for your own attorney and insurer. The Federal Bonding Program exists specifically to address dishonesty exposure; ask DEW about bonding and WOTC eligibility before assuming anything either way.
How can my church or business help?
Consistency beats intensity. A standing ride, a skill taught, interview practice, or one job opened up is worth more than an event. Unreliable help is worse than none, so offer only what you can keep up.
Make your next move
A year from now, what will you be glad you started today?
You don't need another promise that everything will be easy. You need something useful to learn — and a next step you're willing to take.