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By Dr. Genevieve Rimer
As social safety nets unravel and crucial supports for people returning from incarceration come under threat, the Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO) is building a network of reentry organizations to ensure every person returning from incarceration has access to an income and a pathway to a career.
As a formerly incarcerated woman, the value of bringing both lived experience and institutional influence to shaping the future of reentry systems, is incalculable. My work leverages CEO's decades of expertise and vast infrastructure to assist non-profits as they create programming and unlock sustainable funding through SNAP Employment & Training (SNAP E&T).
CEO is advancing Opportunity 2030, CEO’s national blueprint to lay the foundation for the reentry infrastructure America has long needed. By 2030, CEO aims to expand from 12 to 20 states, a national strategy to unlock a total of $750 million in government investment and reach a total of 127,000 justice-impacted people, laying the foundation for a national reentry system where everyone returning from incarceration has access to income, stability, and opportunity on day one.–milestones that serve as a catalyst by 2030. The partnership with the Arouet Foundation (Arouet) positions Phoenix as an important site for innovation, scale, and systems change.
While CEO doesn’t operate in Arizona this partnership reflects a deliberate approach: working with strong, community-rooted organizations to expand impact in new regions. Arouet, a Phoenix-based nonprofit, has built one of the region’s most comprehensive models for supporting women returning from incarceration, beginning with pre-release services and continuing with long-term support throughout the reentry journey.
Arouet’s model focuses on the full picture of reentry: building confidence before release, ensuring access to healthcare through dedicated navigation services, and equipping women for long-term economic independence through workforce training and career pathways.
Arouet’s dedication to providing comprehensive reentry support is primed ground for a paid work-based learning program similar to CEO’s. A key component of Opportunity 2030 is expanding the “earn as you learn” model in reentry services—a model that offers participants on-the-job training while earning an income. This kind of programming is often referred to as subsidized work-based learning (SWBL) in government spaces.
However, to sustain these kinds of programs, organizations must unlock public funding. One key resource is SNAP E&T. This is where CEO’s expertise comes into play. To mobilize SNAP E&T funding, Arizona has to first expand their SNAP E&T state plan to include SWBL so organizations can be reimbursed for the wages they pay participants. CEO will assist Arouet in securing SWBL as a SNAP E&T approved program.
SNAP E&T alleviates a significant financial burden on smaller organizations, many of which would otherwise be unable to fund a paid training program. Advocacy to expand SNAP E&T will not only unlock funding for Arouet’s paid work-based learning program, but also clear the path for other reentry organizations in Arizona to do the same.
But the partnership with Arouet goes beyond SNAP.
Together, CEO and Arouet are building infrastructure that strengthens the overall reentry ecosystem in Phoenix, including:
- Expanding access to AI-powered job coaching, ensuring that individuals returning from incarceration have immediate, on-demand support as they navigate the job market
- Advancing strategies that respond to federal policy shifts, including HR1, with a focus on protecting and sustaining funding streams that support reentry populations
- Supporting long-term systems alignment across workforce, public benefits, and community-based services to improve outcomes and scale impact
This work reflects CEO’s broader national approach: anchoring SNAP E&T as one piece of a larger strategy to stabilize and grow investments in reentry while equipping local partners with the tools to lead.
By combining local leadership with national strategy, CEO and Arouet are demonstrating what it looks like to scale reentry solutions in a way that is both practical and sustainable—grounded in community, informed by lived experience, and designed to influence systems at large.
