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If Gregory Williams could go back in time, he says he wouldn't change a thing about his life, even his time spent in prison for selling marijuana.

"That time in prison opened my eyes quite a bit," Williams said.

While serving his sentence, he met men who grew up without fathers and mothers and men who did not know how to read or do simple math.

A professional in automotive design and engineering before his arrest, Williams became certified to tutor and helped several inmates earn their GEDs.

"Prison showed me a gap in our society that I intend to fill," he said.

Now a successful design engineer for Honda Jet, Williams has written two novels, is a motivational speaker and has started a movement called Beat the Streets in conjunction with his church, Royal Priesthood Christian Ministries in Greensboro.

"This is not a religious movement but more of an empowerment movement," Williams said.

Through donations and the sale of his books, "Brotherwood" and "Solomon's Quest," Williams hopes to raise $500,000. For each book sold for $13.95, All Things All People Publishing will donate $9 of the proceeds to Beat the Streets. The money will be used for:

• Cash grants to assist the elderly with prescription drug purchases
• Scholarships for children of men and women killed due to street and domestic violence
• Promoting and publishing one local male and female student's novel or book
• Providing performance incentives and scholarships to grade school students
• Financial assistance for the sick and needy

"These are not the types of programs that we should solely rely on government to provide; these are the types of programs that the church is supposed to provide and help with," Williams said. "I rarely see this, and Royal Priesthood Ministries will surely be one that does it right and sets the example."

Bishop AC Kearney of Royal Priesthood said he is excited that he and Williams share the same vision.

"I don't want anything from this; just society to be blessed," Kearney said.

Kearney said he has had members of his church lose children to drive-by shootings.

"We need to get out there and make a difference," he said. "There are children on the street who are homeless, and we need to reach them before it's too late."

The single father of an autistic son, Williams was arrested in March 2000 in Cincinnati for selling marijuana. A heavy weed smoker then, Williams said he never planned to deal drugs.

"It just kind of fell in my lap, and the big dealer trusted me," he said. "I would get it from him and sell it to another couple of design engineers that I worked with in the automotive industry."

In addition to tutoring, Williams also wrote his first book, "Brotherwood," while in prison. Both of his books tell a fictional account of his life.

"For something like that to happen to someone like me was a story in and of itself," Williams said. "God delivered me, and He told me to share my story with others."

After his prison release in 2001, he worked for Honda Automotive in Columbus, Ohio, and continued rebuilding his life and making a difference in the lives of others.

"I had to work really hard to be one of the best so that my work speaks for itself," he said.

He moved to Greensboro in 2007 to work for Volvo Truck before taking his current position with Honda Jet.

He speaks at prisons, high schools, colleges and conferences about career goals and planning, active parenting, drug abuse, gaining employment after a felony conviction and becoming and maintaining productive citizenship.

Williams started Beat the Streets because he believes he can use the experiences of his life to bring about much needed change.

"It's time for us to come together and pull ourselves up," he said. "It's time to set up an infrastructure that will generate revenues to help and not be wasted in red tape like so many other charitable organizations."

Contact Jennifer Atkins Brown at 574-5582 or jennifer.brown@news-record.com.