Formerly Incarcerated Women Launch Worker-Owned Food Business During COVID-19

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.

In 2016, the city of Rochester, NY partnered with Kiva—a crowd-funded microlender—to serve aspiring or established small-business owners. Their partnership offers interest-free loans, and already 20 of the loans have been fully repaid. This article looks at six different case studies of residents who have benefitted from the program.

An Oakland nonprofit incubator, The Runway Project, addresses racial and economic injustices in entrepreneurship by offering flexible loans for people of color and low-income individuals looking to start a business. Borrowers benefit from flexible loan terms and qualifications, both of which are usually barriers to entry for people of color in the business world.

A cooperative in Italy has repurposed land once owned by the Mafia to produce pasta and organic vegetables, and its employees are using this land to reclaim their lives. Beyond the Dreams’ provides meaningful work for former prisoners, mental patients, and addicts, who cultivate these agricultural products. The revitalization of the ruined land and employment opportunities deliver symbolic blows to organized crime.

After California legalized recreational use of marijuana, Los Angeles took the initiative even further to address the social and systemic inequity caused by the war on drugs of communities of color. The city undertook criminal justice reforms like clinics to help people expunge their records, and economic reforms like prioritizing those with past convictions to receive licenses to own and operate dispensaries. Furthermore, LA is practicing restorative justice by directing the tax revenue created by this sector back into the neighborhoods that were deeply affected in the past.

After decades of economic and social despair that once saw it named the poorest big city in America, Cleveland has become a model of revitalization, thanks to a unique “anchor strategy” that harnesses the immense wealth and power of the city’s public institutions.

Minnesota's Office of Cannabis Management entered into compact agreements with tribal nations in 2025, allowing tribes to operate cannabis dispensaries beyond reservation boundaries. Seven tribally owned off-reservation dispensaries are now open, with more planned. These dispensaries are serving as significant job sources as Waabigwan Mashkiki, White Earth Nation's cannabis company, has created 200 jobs alone in one of the state's poorest counties. Other states including Virginia and Wisconsin are now looking to Minnesota's framework as a model for their own tribal cannabis policies.

Point-of-sale-based agency banking helps make digital finance more accessible and inclusive, allowing small businesses to act as banking agents, offering services like cash withdrawals and bill payments through fintech platforms. This integration has been particularly impactful in regions without bank branches. The integration of fintech throughout Nigeria has not only led to more autonomy in personal finance but has also created significant employment opportunities.

Affordable manufacturing spaces serve as community assets that can be a launchpad for economic development. A nonprofit in Pittsburgh offers an affordable space which has led to 100 percent capacity. The businesses renting space there have created 97 full-time jobs.

The DEAR program (Durham Expunction and Restoration) put 11,084 drivers back on the road legally and waived $2.7 million in fines in a purge of old cases that had revoked driving privileges for unpaid fines and fees. The two-year amnesty program, part of a national movement, took aim at the often racially disparate enforcement of state laws that burden the formerly incarcerated and others with unaffordable monetary penalties. Deprived of the right to drive, people either miss out on work and educational opportunities, or risk more traffic tickets, arrests, and fines.