“Opportunity 2030” Strategic Blueprint Expands Reach by 25K People and Unlocks $175M in Year One
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Claire Gross, Sr. Manager of Public Relations
cgross@ceoworks.org | (646) 370-8292
New York, NY –October 15, 2026–Wednesday, the Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO) launched its 30th Anniversary Campaign, honoring the countless people that have driven CEO’s mission forward over the last three decades. The event celebrated current and past CEO leaders, partners, elected officials, funders, employers, and most importantly the 100,000 people CEO has served. The launch took place at Housing Works Bookstore, a mission-aligned social enterprise in New York City.
For 30 years CEO has illuminated a path to stability for people returning from incarceration. Led by a singular and clear vision that immediate access to work after incarceration could change the trajectory of a person's life, CEO has directly provided over 100,000 justice-impacted people with meaningful employment support since it opened its doors in 1996. CEO’s mission has evolved into a rigorously studied and evidence-backed program operating in 12 states across 30 cities.
“Nearly 18 years ago, my first job at CEO was to help expand our impact beyond New York City. Since I became chief executive in 2009, we have built the capacity to serve nearly 10,000 people a year. That progress belongs to generations of CEO participants and staff, our government and philanthropic partners, and the community organizations that have built this field alongside us,” said Sam Schaeffer, Chief Executive Officer of the Center for Employment Opportunities. “CEO shows what’s possible when community, policy, and philanthropy come together to address one of society’s greatest injustices. For thirty years, we’ve built the proof. Now we have to build the power. That is the work of CEO’s next thirty years. Not simply to grow one organization, but to build a field strong enough to deliver opportunity in every community.”
"CEO came from a very simple but radical idea: that guaranteeing someone a job after they were released from incarceration could change the course of their life,” said Mindy Tarlow, Senior Fellow and Research Professor at NYU's Marron Institute of Urban Management and founding Chief Executive Officer of CEO. “After 30 years, CEO is no longer radical. It has now been proven by multiple rigorous studies. Today, CEO is the largest and most established player in the country in a space that continues to grow with new providers and new leaders in new places. Today, political leaders of all stripes agree on the power of giving someone a job. And while a lot has changed over the past 30 years, what has not changed is the fundamental belief in the potential and agency of people if you give them the resources they need to determine their own lives.”
“An idea that once sat outside the mainstream has helped contribute to a much broader understanding that successful reentry requires access to employment, income, opportunity, and support,” said Elizabeth Balfour Chair of Center for Employment Opportunities’ Board of Directors and Partner at Sheppard. “The environment around reentry is changing again. Public resources are under pressure, community organizations are being asked to do more, and the field faces consequential questions about how opportunities for people returning home will be sustained. Thirty years ago, CEO asked what people returning home needed from us at that moment. Today, the organization is asking that question again, at a very different scale and with three decades of experience behind it.”
“Having worked in workforce development in New York City, I have long appreciated CEO’s commitment to connecting justice-impacted talent with meaningful employment. Its focus on individual aspirations and meaningful outcomes made CEO a strong fit for the CD&R Foundation’s Talent Solution Partner program,” said Randy Moore, President of the CD&R Foundation. “CEO recognizes the abilities, lived experience, and potential each person brings to the workforce. For 30 years, it has helped translate that potential into opportunity. Employment offers more than a paycheck: it can bring dignity, expand choices, and help people shape their futures on their own terms.”
In 2025 CEO launched Opportunity 2030, a 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, unlock $750 million in government investment, and reach 127 thousand justice-impacted people, building a national reentry network where everyone returning from incarceration has access to income, stability, and opportunity on day one. In its first year of implementation, Opportunity 2030 has already unlocked $175 million dollars in federal dollars and impacted 25 thousand people in their journey to economic security and stability.
Opportunity 2030 unites local nonprofits, government agencies, and employers around standardized, evidence-based practices. No single organization can meet this national need alone. Opportunity 2030 helps trusted local providers unlock and manage complex federal streams more than tripling annual reach by embedding sustainable funding directly into local communities. In the last year, CEO has announced partnerships with both government and nonprofits in states such as Ohio, Arizona, and Maryland.
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About the Center for Employment Opportunities
The Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO) provides immediate, effective, and comprehensive employment services exclusively to people recently released from incarceration. CEO currently operates in 30 cities in 12 states and is dedicated to ensuring justice-impacted people have opportunities to achieve socioeconomic mobility. For more information, visit ceoworks.org.