Investing in Workforce Development Can Lead to Meaningful Careers for Formerly Incarcerated People
By Evan Goldstein, Senior Policy Associate
The current employment upheaval, or the Great Resignation, reminds us that the opportunity to pursue meaningful and fulfilling work—something more than just a job—should extend to everyone. However, people who are formerly incarcerated are a group who often can only access employment with low pay, stress, and little opportunity for advancement. They are often locked out of careers because of a lack of educational credentials, training, or other systemic barriers.
Every year, more than 600,000 people are released from incarceration, and more than two-thirds are re-arrested within three years. A lack of quality employment opportunities helps contribute to this recidivism. Formerly incarcerated people experience unemployment rates nearly five times higher than the general population. This is due to impediments such as background checks, stigma, and occupational license bans that prevent access to training and careers that lead to higher wages,
The impact of this means that 7.7 million formerly incarcerated people lose out on $52 billion in lost wages annually. In other words, people who have been incarcerated earn about half the wages they would have received had they not been incarcerated, leading to an average of nearly half a million dollars lost by the end of their career. Reducing economic opportunity can also lead to a vicious cycle of reincarceration that further entrenches families and communities in a system that locks them out of economic prosperity.
Recommendations for investing in workforce development that includes meaningful careers formerly incarcerated people
Policymakers should invest in a continuum of connections to quality career pathways for people returning from incarceration, beginning with reentry-focused programming within correctional institutions. The decision to restore Pell grant eligibility for the incarcerated starting in 2023, and Governor Hochul’s announcement of increased programming to connect people returning with jobs show that there is substantial interest from policymakers. Fortunately, ISLG’s work on the Criminal Justice Investment Initiative provides some helpful lessons as to how providers and policymakers can build effective employment-focused reentry strategies. Some of the key CJII investments along the reentry continuum are outlined below.
Pathways to successful employment should start during incarceration
Gaining credentials that lead to successful employment should begin before people are released from prison. This is an essential first step in the reentry process. Education in prisons is a proven strategy to enable formerly incarcerated people to gain access to meaningful employment and set them up for success in the community. Providing access to college education in prison is one way to earn credentials and learn skills while still incarcerated that will ultimately increase employability once people are released from prison. Yet, because of barriers to funding, few people have had access to such programs while incarcerated. To increase access, CJII awarded seven New York education institutions $7.3 million to expand college-in-prison programming in 16 New York correctional facilities, increasing access to college for hundreds of people per year on average. To complement this college work, The Institute for Justice and Opportunity and SUNY provide technical assistance to these colleges and universities to deliver pre-release academic reentry support so students can continue their education once released. In addition, because students who transfer programs can lose their credits, SUNY developed transfer and articulation agreements to ensure that college credits will transfer to another college-in-prison program partner or campus if students want to continue their education in the community. Recently, the ban of Pell college grants for incarcerated people was lifted and is expected to go into effect in 2023, which will enable tens of thousands more people to participate in this life-changing opportunity.Community-based wraparound services help transcend barriers to careers
Once released from prison, people returning to their community continue to face many barriers to successful reintegration, including legal barriers to employment because of their involvement in the criminal legal system, stigma about hiring formerly incarcerated people, and the mental, emotional, and physical toll of incarceration. People returning home often need several critical supports including loan rehabilitation or scholarships, accessing health services, housing, mentorship, and more. To address this challenge, CJII funded two organizations that fulfill this critical function.College and Community Fellowship supports women who have been involved in the legal system and who wish to begin or continue their college education. CCF helps women rehabilitate defaulted loans and provides academic advising and peer mentorship. They also support women to advance their careers by providing soft and hard skills training and on-the-job coaching.
College Initiative offers academic counseling, peer mentorship, and financial support to meet the needs of formerly incarcerated students and help them thrive in college.
Together, these organizations provide essential wraparound supports that enable formerly incarcerated to earn their degree.
Entrepreneurship can provide new approaches and new opportunities to build skills
The intersection between entrepreneurship and doing good is an important space where historically underprivileged people can access opportunities to build skills. To expand this work, CJII awarded $7 million to three social enterprises—revenue generating nonprofits—to advance employment opportunities and career training for at-risk youth and formerly incarcerated New Yorkers. The skills developed through these organizations build credentials and experience that respond to in-demand employment sectors and aim to lead to meaningful careers with living wages. To complement this skill building, these programs offer essential services such as financial empowerment, mental health, and other hard and soft skill training. Recently, these organizations discussed their unique programs.
Conclusion
Given the rapidly changing employment market, training and credentials are more important than ever to achieve a career in this economy. As millions re-evaluate their relationship to meaningful work, policymakers should take note of the systemic barriers that formerly incarcerated people face that make their participation even more challenging and that prevent millions of people from achieving significant employment opportunities. Investing in a continuum of reentry supports—starting before release and continuing in the community after release—that focus on skills and credentials tied to job sector demand and include complementary community-based wraparound services to address other reentry-related challenges, will create more pathways toward economic prosperity for formerly incarcerated people, their families, and communities.