Crisis To Career

 The Formerly Incarcerated –
An Untapped Workforce

​​Sam SchaefferExecutive Director and CEO
Center for Employment Opportunities​Simone PriceDirector of Organizing
Center for Employment Opportunities

​Fall 2022
Forum in Review​Introduction​The Formerly Incarcerated –
An Untapped Workforce​Addiction Recovery And Workforce Development​Water Management: Flood & Drought​Trade-Offs And Tensions
In U.S.-China Relations

Training and transitional employment are the keys to building a productive foundation for those returning home from prison; a population that can also help solve the nation’s labor shortage, according to Sam Schaeffer, the Executive Director and CEO for the Center for Employment Opportunities, and Simone Price, Director of Organizing. The speakers provided a roadmap for employment of the formerly incarcerated, citing the value of this untapped source of labor to meet shortages. They offered an evidence-based approach demonstrating the impact of rethinking barriers to workforce re-entry for these potential workers.

Stark Facts

More than 600,000 people are released from incarceration every year in the US, and, barring intervention, research indicates that within 3 years, close to 70% will return to prison. Currently, 1 in 3 adults or approximately 77 million people have a criminal record and face substantial barriers to employability.

These are the stark facts that motivate the mission of the Center for Employment Opportunities (ceoworks.org): To provide immediate, effective, and comprehensive employment services to people who have recently been released from incarceration. CEO’s evidence-based program model helps participants regain the skills and confidence needed for successful transitions into the workforce and to stable, productive lives.

​CEO’s evidence-based program helps previously incarcerated individuals regain the skills and confidence needed for successful transitions into the workforce and to stable, productive lives.

The CEO Model

The CEO model uses a three phase approach. First, participants receive job readiness skills development that prepares and trains them to reenter the workforce.

In Phase 2, which may last from 2 to 6 months, participants perform transitional jobs and receive enhanced training. They have immediate work experience and daily pay, as well as access to expanded, paid training opportunities. Ongoing job coaching provides direct 1:1 support for job readiness, and participants are connected with employers for full-time jobs.

Phase 3 provides year-long ongoing career coaching and support to ensure participants’ success in their full time jobs.

The data demonstrate the effectiveness of the CEO model, with statistically significant reductions in arrests, convictions, and incarcerations among CEO participants. Furthermore, there is a 48% increase in CEO graduates retaining full-time jobs 36 months after enrollment in the program, compared with those not enrolled.

​MDRC Evaluation: CEO's 3-Year Impact
on Recently Released Subgroup

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Role of the States

First: Funding

In the 12 states where CEO operates, partnerships with state agencies are critical to fulfilling this work, according to Mr. Schaeffer. He stressed the importance of a coordinated response across agencies to identify and allocate resources toward re-entry and re-employment. He advocated that state legislatures take the lead by increasing their draw-down from federal workforce investment sources.

​Federal sources of funding for employment re-entry programs:• SNAP Employment & Training• Workforce Innovation & Opportunity Act (WIOA)• The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA)/
Block Grants

Second: Partnering with the Business Sector

State leaders can champion Fair Chance Hiring Laws and Pledges, foster coalitions such as the “Second Chance Business Coalition,” and leverage economic development programs to urge hiring formerly incarcerated people.

​State leaders have the opportunity to remove substantial barriers that block re-entry, job access and career mobility.

Third: Removing Barriers

State leaders have the opportunity to remove substantial barriers that block re-entry, such as improving access to vital documents so individuals may be employed right away. They can eliminate structural regulations that prevent individuals with felony convictions from accessing work sites, and ensure that supervision conditions create incentives to work and do not pose barriers to employment.

Discussion

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Moderated by

Tom Finneran

Tom Finneran (Moderator): How has CEO successfully engaged with 12 states to implement this program?

Mr. Schaeffer
Executive Director and CEO, Center for Employment Opportunities
We see there is an opportunity in every state to tap the formerly incarcerated population to meet worker demand. And we have the data to show that a program like CEO works. Getting it started requires that a senior elected official or agency director become the champion for a new direction and contact us. Then the legislature can convene all the stakeholders from corrections, business leaders and relevant state agencies to push for a comprehensive and evidence-based solution.

Sen. Beth Mizell
Senate President Pro Tempore, Louisiana
We found bipartisan support for a pre-release program that would decrease recidivism and meet workforce needs. In the Louisiana State Penitentiary (known as Angola), prisoners serving life terms provide a pre-release HVAC training program to those who will be released. They give the leavers their own tool bags to take out into the work force. Such pre-release training is essential.

Mr. Schaeffer: Pre-release training programs have been shown to make institutions safer and more stable.  Institutions can access education dollars to fund these programs and not only create safer environments but also release better prepared workers.

Sen. Matt Huffman
President of the Senate, Ohio
Improving outcomes after incarceration is a winning idea for everyone politically. The biggest obstacle is outmoded “get tough on crime” sanctions that prohibit offenders from getting licenses such as CDL [Commercial Driver’s License] or a barber license.

Mr. Schaeffer: Positive, solutions-based messaging is the most effective way to build bipartisan consensus. The labor shortage and job vacancies make it easier to change collateral sanctions. Legislatures can roll them back.

Jennifer Jura
Director, External Affairs, Edison Electric Institute
Some utilities have partnered with prisons to employ former inmates on projects. Some people work before they are released. One of the challenges is access. Can corporations get access into the jails to provide job training?

Ms. Simone Price
Director of Organizing, CEO
Having corporations accept previously incarcerated people is a big first step. But corporations may not realize all the requirements and needs these workers will have in order to be successful. It makes the most sense to have a pre-release training program. Unfortunately, people get moved around a lot in prison and may leave the facility where the program is offered. That is why a coordinated, comprehensive program is essential.

Mr. Schaeffer: There is a tremendous demand for labor in the building trades. New York’s Laborers' Local 79, the largest Laborers' Local in North America, initiated a pre-release program and provides a dozen openings for incarcerated people per quarter. People who work with this program can move from $17 to $30/hour jobs.

Kevin Lynch
Managing Director, External Affairs, Avangrid Renewables, LLC
There is a great opportunity to qualify for tax credits under the Inflation Reduction Act by offering apprenticeship programs in green engineering projects.

Mr. Schaeffer: The SNAP Employment and Training (E&T) program has millions of dollars untapped that are available for reimbursement of subsidized labor expenses such as apprenticeships.

Tom Finneran (Moderator): Is there a litigation risk for employers if they hire former offenders?

Mr. Schaeffer: The Equal Opportunity Act and the statutes of many states prohibit employment discrimination against formerly incarcerated people. So the real risk is actually in violating these laws.

Sen. Robert Stivers
President of the Senate, Kentucky
If companies have protocols in place for Second Chance employees, such as drug tests, they can mitigate risk and avoid increases in healthcare, insurance and liability rates.

For more information on our guest speakers’ organization,
visit Center for Employment Opportunities.

Presenter Biographies

Sam Schaeffer

Executive Director and CEO
Center for Employment Opportunities

Sam Schaeffer is the Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO), a New York-based nonprofit that provides employment services to individuals with criminal convictions. Sam joined CEO in 2009 to replicate the program in jurisdictions beyond New York City. During his tenure, CEO has expanded to 30 cities and counting across the country. Prior to joining CEO, Sam served as Director of Economic Development for U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York. In that position, he oversaw all job creation and retention efforts; transportation and infrastructure policy; and social welfare policy. Sam has testified before Congress on multiple occasions and speaks and writes regularly on issues including criminal justice, workforce development, and nonprofit effectiveness. Born and raised in New York City, Sam graduated with a B.A. from Reed College, Phi Beta Kappa.

Simone Price

Director of Organizing
Center for Employment Opportunities

Simone Price joined the Center for Employment Opportunities as the Director of Organizing in October of 2021. In her role she oversees a program designed to center the voices of formerly incarcerated people in CEO's policy priorities at the local and federal level. Simone is passionate about advocating for the elimination of collateral consequences stemming from criminal legal systems involvement, especially barriers to economic opportunity and civic engagement.

Prior to joining CEO she served as the campaign lead at REFORM Alliance where she oversaw the efforts of a diverse group of stakeholders to advance evidence-based probation and parole reform legislation. She has contributed to proprietary research on probation and parole practices across the south on behalf of the Prison Policy Initiative, and helped to reestablish a city-led justice commission in Birmingham, Alabama, to address pre-trial detention practices.

In her spare time she volunteers with the Georgia English Bulldog Rescue and is an avid Philadelphia Eagles fan. She and her wife, Peace, serve in the music department at Restoration Community Ministries just south of  Atlanta. She is an alumni of Emory University.

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