‘If your dream is big enough, not even your enemies can stop you,’ says Winfred Payne. His personal journey is a testament to that statement. Winfred Payne is a rehabilitated ex-offender who was born in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1945, to a fourteen-year old mother. He was raised and nurtured by his mother, two aunts, and his grandmother. The only male in the household, Payne began to take on this paternal role at a young age. He personally witnessed the effects of forced integration, and at 16 he lied about his age and enlisted in the army. When his age was discovered one year later, he was sent back to the same bleak environment in Little Rock.
Winfred Payne’s desire to be a protector and provider for his family, with no viable means to do so drew him to the Black Panther Party in the late 1960s. The Panthers were strong, intelligent, educated men and women who were seeking to help better the lives of black people. Mr Payne’s passion to empower African Americans through education drove him to become one of the financial architects of a group that gave money to the Black Panther Party. It was with this passion in his heart that he took the misguided step of robbing banks to help further the cause of the party while simultaneously enjoying personal gain.
In 1969, he was arrested and escaped the jail in which he was placed, beginning his six year run as a fugitive. After a series of escapes and re-incarcerations, Winfred Payne served a total of twenty-five years, six months, and ten days in various maximum security prisons and was finally paroled. Upon release, he began working with a federal study project, going in and out of prisons every day to help other inmates prepare for re-integration into society. The project became his first meaningful employment after his release from prison.
Mr Payne went on to found and serve as the Executive Director of Alternatives: A Program for Youth in 2002. The program provided a safe place for at-risk youth of North Minneapolis to enhance their focus and begin the process of bettering themselves through education and positive life choices. In addition to directly serving the youth, Payne has given presentations and workshops to employees and inmates of the MN Department of Corrections and Hennepin County Juvenile Corrections, local schools, rites of passage programs, Best Buy, Honeywell, and the Congressional Black Caucus. He is an engaging speaker with a powerful story to tell.