Second chance hiring more crucial than ever

America’s criminal justice system has a major problem — and its communities present a huge opportunity.

The problem is that, nationally, nearly 68 percent of people released from prison will return within three years.

What’s more, around 27 percent of those who leave prison will find themselves unemployed — higher than peak unemployment during the Great Depression — a tragedy only exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

These figures are not unrelated.

It is profoundly difficult for people leaving prison to find and keep work, due primarily to a combination of employer bias and a lack of formal education and training.

So, these Americans are left with few options. Many return to crime as a means to survive, continuing the cycle of incarceration.

I know something about that firsthand. I was incarcerated in Texas for a firstdegree felony at the age of 15.

But different — and better — approaches already exist in those same communities where former inmates are looking to re-establish themselves.

And that’s where our huge opportunity comes into play.

According to the American Trucking Associations, over 1 million drivers will need to join the industry over the next decade to keep up with demand. And there’s an immediate need now, in the weeks before Christmas, as industry deals with supply chain problems exacerbated by a shortage of truckers.

What’s more, the salary ranges between $50,000 and $80,000 during the first year of work.

That’s where America’s communities step in — among them FreeWorld, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to help place those returning from prison in well-paying careers so that they can find rewarding opportunities.

FreeWorld connects those returning from prison with housing, provides transportation options and helps participants locate their important documents, such as birth certificates, Social Security cards and state-issued identification.

Then, our organization provides online education, introducing these individuals to the field of trucking, and partners with trucking schools for behind-the-wheel experience.

This model has been proven to work.

Over the three years we have done this work, few of FreeWorld’s graduates have returned to prison.

The vast majority are now able to eliminate their debt, build generational wealth, purchase homes and build a better life.

Or consider Dallas-based Café Momentum, which provides at-risk juveniles with an ecosystem of support and community by teaching them how to run a restaurant.

The program also helps these students find safe housing and employment after their internship has ended.

And it works.

Café Momentum reports breaking the cycle of reincarceration for more than 80 percent of its interns.

Café Momentum’s success has spurred other cities to try the model, including Nashville and Pittsburgh.

These new restaurants will help up to 150 kids, each year in each city, stay out of the criminal justice system and transform their lives.

Or take UTEC, based in Lowell, Mass., which helps disconnected young adults through street outreach and in-prison programs that prepare them for employment and education. While Massachusetts’ recidivism rate sits at 50 percent, UTEC participants average less than 15 percent.

Indeed, everyone benefits from community based solutions like these.

State and federal taxpayers save millions of dollars that would otherwise have been spent on welfare costs and putting people in prison, and families are better able to spend time together.

Rather than continue to spend countless taxpayer dollars on programs that haven’t reduced incarceration, and have not helped individuals permanently escape poverty, Americans should look to support community based approaches to solve these problems.

Second-chance programs for formerly incarcerated individuals are especially important as we continue to recover from the pandemic.

Businesses are hiring again, but are struggling to find workers.

There has never been a greater opportunity for these initiatives to make a real difference in the lives of individuals returning from prison and their families. I hope more Americans will look to similar solutions to break the cycle of poverty.