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George calls his full-time job at Center for Employment Opportunities “an answered prayer.” “Not just the job, but to be able to work alongside others,” George says. “To be able to tell them, hey, I know what it takes. Of course, you have to put in the work, but you have people working with you that want to help you.”

Matrice, a Denver native, was raised with her brother by a single mother in Kansas City, Missouri. She recalls her mother struggling to raise them alone but says they always made the best of it. Despite being a straight-A, honor-roll student, and a girl scout, Matrice says her mother was very strict. She presumes it was to keep her out of trouble.

I’ve been an information technology support specialist in Detroit for half a year now, and I consider myself lucky because I love my job helping other people solve problems. But it wasn’t easy getting here.

Jose heard about the Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO) while residing at a halfway house in Philadelphia. With a referral from his unit team, he soon began working with a CEO crew cleaning up the streets of Philly, earning daily pay and receiving coaching to pursue the job of his choice. After 24 years of incarceration, he says the most troubling part of reentry was the fear of recidivism.

Think of a job a person might apply to after serving a prison sentence. Does a museum professional come to mind? Perhaps it should. The Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO) recently teamed up with a Smithsonian Institution internship program to help make such a career path possible.

The city should work with unions and re-entry providers to create work opportunities that facilitate and track long-term success. Across New York City, the public safety crisis is most acutely seen and felt in low-income communities of color. Indeed, gun violence is ravaging neighborhoods already hit hardest by COVID-19, mass incarceration, unemployment, and low-wage work.

For Heather, a Colorado native, things were looking good in 2020 for the first time in awhile. She was released from incarceration in December of 2019 and the following February she began job training and transitional work with the Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO), a reentry employment provider. But she was having trouble securing a permanent position.

Billy has been enjoying spending time with his family, including his two boys, who are both in their twenties now, as well as learning to appreciate new outdoor activities, like camping, hiking, and visits to the beach. Things were much harder when he was released.

The Beloved Benefit, a community impact event that galvanizes the city of Atlanta, aims to inspire positive change through greater economic mobility.

Jimmy Parker, the founder, CEO, and president of STAT Overnight Delivery, a medical delivery service, knew from the beginning that he wanted his company to be an employer that focused on people’s futures rather than their backgrounds.

Venitra loves her job as a picker at a warehouse in Oklahoma City, OK. She gets excellent benefits and uses the forklift skills she trained for. However, there was a long period when she was fearful about finding a good position. She was incarcerated during the pandemic and was unsure what work she would be able to do after her release, especially because before being in prison, she and her husband had only worked fast-food jobs.

Villara Building Systems is an HVAC, plumbing, and solar company based in Northern and Central California, celebrating its 75th year in business. Last year, Cory Henderson was brought on to help develop and run Villara’s New Start Program, which hires, trains, and supports employees that traditionally have trouble gaining employment. These hires include refugees and individuals who were formerly incarcerated, formerly homeless, or previously suffering from addiction or substance use disorder.