GilbertStarleigh

This year, Gilbert Starleigh is celebrating 12 years of successful and productive collaboration with Good News Outreach. Good News Outreach is a faith based organization operating out of Tallahassee, Florida dedicated to reducing human suffering by providing food, shelter, and other aid to persons in need. They also provide services to the elderly, and food distribution for the hungry in addition to their ministry which has been in service for more than 40 years.

Gilbert’s role with Good News Outreach has been to assist formerly incarcerated men as they work toward becoming contributing members of society. By partnering with the Florida Department of Corrections, Good News Outreach works directly with men being released from prison to reestablish themselves in the community. Gilbert’s work with Good News centered on opening and managing a number of inmate transition homes for formerly incarcerated men called the Mercy Houses. These transition homes supply shelter, food, social support, employment, and educational opportunities through a network of community outreach resources and other ministries.

Today, Gilbert is registered as a Florida Department of Corrections Volunteer Minister. This designation gives him access to all prisons within the Florida Department of Corrections system. Having retired from day to day activities with Good News Outreach, Gilbert has turned his attention to serving as the director of Second Chance Ministries.

When asked about his service working with former prison inmates at risk of becoming homeless or returning to prison, Gilbert says, “It’s an opportunity to provide an important public service, but more than that, it’s immensely rewarding on a personal level.” 

According to a study by the Pew Research Center, as many as 15% of former prisoners nationwide will experience homelessness.

As a successful entrepreneur, Gilbert has long been in a unique position to help men being released from prison to find work, obtain housing, and to get their lives back on track. His in-depth understanding of the necessities of business and commerce has enabled him to help men at risk of failing to reestablish themselves as contributing members of society. By giving them practical and practicable advice and aid, Gilbert and his organization have made it possible for these individuals to escape prison recidivism and homelessness.

Gilbert’s business accomplishments include being a co-owner and director for Barnes & Starleigh Properties, and general manager for Gary Moulton Auto CTR in addition to his more than 15 years of fellowship at Fellowship Baptist Church.

Few people have done as much to make Tallahassee, FL a better place to live than Gilbert Starleigh, whose faith and dedication to helping his neighbors and those in need have produced demonstrable positive results.

Florida Department of Corrections volunteer minister Gilbert Starleigh demonstrates the importance of community outreach for the formerly incarcerated.

A Florida Department of Corrections volunteer minister involved with nonprofit organization Good News Outreach for more than a decade, Gilbert Starleigh is an expert in opening and managing inmate transition homes for formerly incarcerated individuals. Also a longstanding part of Fellowship Baptist Church and its Second Chance Prison Ministries program, Starleigh provides a first-hand insight into the importance of community outreach for those who have been recently released from incarceration.

“Without the work of programs such as Second Chance Prison Ministries and organizations including Good News Outreach, focused on the provision of inmate transition homes, many individuals leaving the Florida Department of Corrections system would be at serious risk of homelessness,” reveals local volunteer minister Gilbert Starleigh.

For more than a decade, Fellowship Baptist Church member Gilbert Starleigh has worked alongside Good News Outreach to assist in the opening and management of inmate transition homes in and around his home city of Tallahassee, Florida. Starleigh is also the director of Fellowship Baptist Church’s Second Chance Prison Ministries initiative.

“Although now retired from day-to-day involvement with Good News Outreach, via my directorship of Fellowship Baptist Church’s Second Chance Prison Ministries here in Tallahassee, and as a volunteer minister, I continue to directly refer those in need of support leaving the Florida prison system to the organization,” explains Gilbert Starleigh, speaking from his home in the north of the Leon County city.

Nonprofit organization Good News Outreach strives to eliminate hunger, homelessness, and isolation among those in need, and works—alongside experts such as Gilbert Starleigh—to open and manage inmate transition homes for the formerly incarcerated as they rejoin the world and become contributing members of society. “Good News Outreach works tirelessly,” says Starleigh, “to provide food, shelter, and social interaction through collaborative efforts within local Tallahassee communities for those who are most in need.”

Together, Gilbert Starleigh and Good News Outreach have achieved incredible success in their inmate transition homes scheme. Working in partnership with the Florida Department of Corrections, Good News Outreach and Gilbert Starleigh have now successfully established and continue to operate a number of so-called Mercy Houses. “Our Mercy House transition homes,” Starleigh explains, “offer housing, food, social support, and more, including employment and educational opportunities thanks to our community outreach efforts, to those who need it the most.”

A registered Florida Department of Corrections volunteer minister, Second Chance Prison Ministries director Gilbert Starleigh has now been a member of Fellowship Baptist Church, home to the prison ministry initiative, and also based in Tallahassee, Florida, for almost a decade and a half. Outside of his work with Second Chance Prison Ministries and Good News Outreach, Gilbert Starleigh—known to his friends as Gil—is the owner of Barnes & Starleigh Properties. A proud member of Fellowship Baptist Church—a family of faith dedicated to loving God and honoring Lord Jesus—in his free time, the volunteer minister enjoys a variety of hobbies and other interests.