For these employers, there are no background checks, no drug tests, no interviews, and no problems

At Nehemiah Manufacturing, more than 80% of the employees are "second-chance" workers: people with a criminal record, a history of drug abuse, and such. Not only does the company bring more jobs to the city of Cincinnati, but it also connects employees with resources in the community, such as job training, housing assistance, food assistance, or mental-health counseling. Turnover rate is only 15%, and employees themselves describe how the job changed their lives.

After serving time in prison, finding a job can be a major challenge. Road 22 aims to help. The luxury clothing brand employs eight formerly-incarcerated women and plans to hire more as business grows.

Ruthie's Café in South Dallas operates a second-chance employment program that provides jobs and support to individuals with criminal records and those experiencing homelessness. The program hires people often rejected by traditional employers and wraps employment with holistic services, including case management, housing assistance, and transportation support. Currently, 95% of Ruthie's staff are second-chance employees.

Transfr is a tech company that provides free virtual reality job training and education to help facilitate employment opportunities. Transfr specifically focuses on providing these opportunities for disadvantaged people in places like domestic violence shelters, mental health clinics, juvenile detention centers and state correctional institutions where access to skill-building and further education is often hard to access. So far Transfr has 30 partnerships across 18 states.

Dig Deep Farms provides sustainable jobs for people coming out of jail, who have a difficult time finding work. The farm employs about 15 people who grow food for county health initiatives, runs a job-training program for formerly incarcerated people, and operates a food hub to distribute fresh produce to people in need and recently increased its acreage to provide even more opportunities and resources.

The boom in green-energy spending and government grants fuels the work of Leaders Before Legends, a Portland startup that lines up well-paying jobs installing solar panels and the like. The jobs go to people formerly incarcerated on charges related to gun violence. Leaders was founded by a man whose own gun-charge incarceration exposed him to the way that business people think. He turned that exposure into a mission to help others learn how to make money legally and safely. In the past year, the program has found work for 10 people. It is working to expand its city funding to scale up.

Frustrated by a tight labor market, two locally owned Grand Rapids employers discovered the virtues – economic, not just moral – of hiring formerly incarcerated people, whose gratitude for an opportunity translated into excellent performance and less risk of adding to rapid turnover. The employers helped guarantee success by paying for support services that made post-prison transitions easier. The employers then talked hundreds of other local employers into doing the same. Besides providing a business advantage, the program changes lives and is evidently contributing to much lower rates of recidivism.

A company in Portland, Maine works to "dignify temp-work" through the employment of former convicts, addicts, and other individuals in rough transitional phases of life. The company operates as a for-profit business working for social good and facilitates a daily meeting for workers to check in with each other and form a supportive community.

A women's prison in Washington has found success in a pilot program that trains inmates for nontraditional jobs, giving them the skills necessary to be a competitive applicant in fields such as welding. While this program helps to cut down on recidivism, it also connects participants with other programs that help provide appropriate work clothing and pay union fees.

An entrepreneur and activist in Atlanta, GA runs an urban farm and employs former prisoners in an attempt to tackle Georgia's incarceration and recidivism problems. The program, called Gangstas to Growers, employs folks regardless of previous experience and aims to keep up with the rapidly gentrifying community.