1. Integrate Supports With Quality Education and Training for Economic Mobility
Most education and training for the reentry population are through transitional or short-term job training programs. Strong programs, like the Center for Employment Opportunity transitional jobs training programs, have been proven effective in job placement and in reducing recidivism: two critical milestones. People are not in a position to enter or persist in these programs if they can’t meet their basic needs—or, as is the case now—they return to a situation as chaotic as a COVID-19 ravaged community and civil unrest without supports.
Corrections systems leaders need to ensure a warm handoff “from the gate” and into community-based organizations (CBO) that provide comprehensive supports and the quality education and training that will help people reentering society to get jobs and earn a living. For example, the Safer Foundation in Chicago is working with the state prison system to provide “triage”-level supports to the people being released from Illinois prisons and connecting them to Safer’s comprehensive supports and job training programs. Given the increased numbers of people being released, we need more public and private investments to scale programs like this so that communities can meet the need.
Postsecondary credentials, including certificates and associate's degrees, position people for employment and economic advancement. We need to create partnerships between organizations that create pathways to these credentials and CBOs so returning citizens can set a trajectory to economic mobility. Integrated education models in community colleges, like Washington State’s I-BEST program, and institutions participating in JFF’s Accelerating Opportunity initiative accelerate the time it takes to get a postsecondary credential and improve employment outcomes.
Work-based pathways, like pre-apprenticeship to apprenticeship programs offer similar long-term employment benefits, especially for participants with criminal records. This is the victory for criminal justice reform: when people with records aren’t just getting by, they’re getting ahead.