KINGDOM ALLIANCE
STARTING OVER
IN SUMTER 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 Sumter coming-home guide.
What coming home to Sumter actually involves
Sumter is one of the few smaller cities in the state where fixed-route bus service actually makes working without a car possible. Base employment and most defense contracting are realistically closed, so the productive targets are the industrial parks, warehousing, food service and retail, all of which hire continuously. The technical college runs short credentials that local manufacturers recognize, and that is the fastest wage increase available here.
Sumter has a city bus system, which is rare for a South Carolina city this size, and it includes service toward the base. Columbia is roughly an hour west and a real number of people drive it.
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.
The list worth keeping
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 Sumter 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 Sumter County Judicial Center, 141 N Main St, Sumter, SC 29150.
If this was useful, more of Ben Lovro's writing on real estate, business and systems goes deeper.
Record relief, in outline
Two remedies get confused constantly, and they do different things.
| Expungement | Pardon | |
|---|---|---|
| Effect | The record is destroyed, and the offense no longer appears on a background check | The conviction remains on the record, marked as pardoned |
| Where to apply | That court, for a non-conviction in Magistrate or Municipal Court. Otherwise the Solicitor's office in the county where the charge or conviction occurred | SC Probation, Parole and Pardon Services |
| Availability | Only certain charges and convictions | Broader, but discretionary |
Potentially expungeable: dismissed charges, not-guilty verdicts, charges resolved through diversion, certain first-offense misdemeanors and some drug possession convictions. Waiting periods run from roughly one year to twenty after the sentence is complete, including probation and parole. Traffic and fish-and-wildlife convictions generally cannot be expunged. Published fees have been $250 to the Solicitor, $35 to the Clerk of Court and $25 to SLED, varying by type, with some types exempt.
None of this is legal advice. Your record is specific and the rules are not intuitive. Ask the Solicitor's office, South Carolina Legal Services, or your own attorney.
For Sumter employers
Military spouses are the most underused labor pool in the market. Many are credentialed and available, and they are honest about leaving in a few years, which employers here learn to plan around rather than resist.
- Federal Bonding Program. Free fidelity bonds of $5,000, issued to employers who hire people considered high-risk to place. It is insurance against employee dishonesty and it costs the employer nothing. In South Carolina the contact is FederalBonding@dew.sc.gov.
- Work Opportunity Tax Credit. A federal tax credit worth up to $2,400 when an employer hires someone formerly incarcerated. South Carolina handles it at WOTC@dew.sc.gov.
- Check before relying on either. Terms change. DEW is the source, not a website.
- Neither one hires anybody. They remove a reason to say no. They do not make the case.
The case is commercial and it is short. A person who has come through this and means to stay out of it is frequently the most motivated applicant an employer will see.
The encouraging part, carefully stated
A figure worth knowing, with the date attached. South Carolina's recidivism rate was 18% in 2019, tied for third lowest in the country, down from 31% in 2008. Those come from figures published by the state's workforce and corrections agencies, and anybody repeating them should confirm the current number first.
It describes a population. It predicts nothing about a person. What it points at, though, is consistent:
- Somewhere stable to sleep. Stability first, quality second.
- Income inside the first couple of months. Not a career — money coming in.
- At least one person paying genuine attention. One is enough. Nobody manages this entirely alone.
Those three turn up again and again among people who do not go back. They are practical, and they can be worked on in order.
The base, the churches and the gardens hold the place together. The spring festival at the iris gardens is the one week the whole county shows up in the same place.
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.
The realistic first job here
The first job is a bridge, not a verdict, and it helps to know in advance what kind of bridge this place offers.
An Air Force base and a real manufacturing base carry Sumter together. Federal payroll provides the stability and the industrial parks provide the private-sector wages. The sectors that dominate here are military and defense, manufacturing, healthcare, logistics and retail and services, and entry-level hiring tends to follow them. Shaw Air Force Base and the Army component command headquartered there dominate, alongside large-scale tire and industrial manufacturing and the regional hospital.
Much of the business base exists to serve a population that rotates: barbers, storage, auto repair, restaurants, property management. Sumter also has a long-established and well-rooted Black-owned business community downtown and in South Sumter. 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.
Population turns over constantly because of military rotations, so asking someone how long they have been in town is an ordinary opening question rather than a rude one.
Frequently asked
Questions people actually ask
Is there a reentry program in Sumter?
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 Sumter specifically?
Sumter is one of the few smaller cities in the state where fixed-route bus service actually makes working without a car possible. Base employment and most defense contracting are realistically closed, so the productive targets are the industrial parks, warehousing, food service and retail, all of which hire continuously. The technical college runs short credentials that local manufacturers recognize, and that is the fastest wage increase available here.
Where do I apply for expungement in Sumter 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.