Participant Stories

Growing up in Detroit, George remembers his mother getting on the city bus to go to her job downtown and telling him that he could build something better. “My mom would tell me I could be somebody,” George says. “She believed that.” Having only met his father twice, it fell on George’s mother to raise him and his three siblings, and his grandparents, who worked for Detroit public schools. They would always stress that an education is the most important thing to have in life.

For Ahmad, Ramadan is not a break from life, it’s a time to sharpen it. As a member of the Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO) Emerging Leaders Program (ELP), Ahmad approaches this Ramadan season the same way he approaches his personal growth: intentionally, critically, and with an expectation of producing positive results. He is justice-impacted and grounded in the teachings of Islam, focused on becoming better each year than he was the year before.

When Daniel came home from prison, he thought his decades of experience in behavioral health and his advanced education would help him land on his feet. Instead, he found himself facing a wall that far too many reentering society knows well: employers who won’t look past a criminal record, no matter how qualified the applicant may be.

Alex always loved working on cars. As a young man in Colorado Springs, he worked as a mechanic right after high school. He became so good at the job that he was soon working for several major dealerships around the city.

When Alberto completed the program at the Center for Employment Opportunities in Denver, he wanted to give something back to the people he had been working alongside for months. He knew they needed clothes to get through the coming winter, so he started a clothing drive.

My name is John, and this is a glimpse into my first day out of prison. It began as I got off the prison van and boarded the Bustang bus to Denver. This first step was bittersweet. Even though I was free, I did not feel that way. Wearing DOC-provided clothes and stepping onto that bus with all my property, I felt like I was in a long-range extension of the prison system. I felt a melancholic indifference to my newly gained situation, and more than that, I felt pressure. The pressure of responsibility.

In June 2025, Jamar was released from prison. Today, he has two jobs, a savings account, and plans for the future, but he says one of his favorite things about his new life is getting to drive again.

Today, Jesse spends his days supporting others through reentry and mental health challenges, leading programs, and helping build pathways for people with lived experience to succeed. He is a Program Manager and HR Talent Acquisition Specialist at Project Return Peer Support Network and a full time student at Cal State LA.

Growing up between Colorado and California, Corey was one of 13 siblings raised by a single father. Life wasn’t easy, but his childhood was filled with lessons about resilience and responsibility. “My dad taught me how to be a father and I’ll always be grateful for that,” Corey says. “My dad showed me the right things to do through his actions and he was always there.”

Tracy wakes up every morning and goes to work as the assistant manager at a fast-food restaurant in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Every time she walks through the doors, she remembers just how much work she and her coworkers put into getting it up and running.

Change is never easy. For many of the 600,000 justice-impacted Americans who leave jail and prison every year, the mountain of past mistakes, broken dreams, and lost opportunities can feel impossible to scale; each step up is a reminder of our failures until we reach the top.

Sinead was five years old when she sat in the back of a police car for the first time. A neighbor had called the cops because her parents were arguing in the front yard again, and they wanted to know if the little girl was alright. It was the first of many moments that would define Sinead’s early life – growing up in San Diego with limited means.