How Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Are Getting the Jobs and Pay They Deserve

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.

A California law is making it easier for firefighters trained while incarcerated to get the emergency medical technician licensing required to work at municipal fire stations once released. The new law helps formerly incarcerated firefighters expunge felony convictions from their records that would otherwise prevent them access to licensing.

Playa Vista Jobs’ Hatch Program is a three-phase program that helps people who were formerly incarcerated and recently released have a smooth reentry and find stable employment in the construction industry. The program begins with getting participants to open their minds to change and emotional healing followed by 500 hours of hands-on construction training in a stable environment, including regular meals. At the end of the program participants receive help securing employment.

A workforce development initiative, PowerCorpsPHL, pays participants to learn skills and gain hands-on experience for jobs that offer long-term career opportunity in the field of environmental sustainability. Participants generally have criminal records or have been in the foster care system. In addition to job training and education, PowerCorpsPHL also provides services such as mental health counseling, securing childcare, navigating SNAP and AmeriCorps tuition benefits and helping with paperwork. The program helps 92 percent of participants secure either a job or post-secondary education.

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.

How do you find a job when you get out of prison? For some, it’s almost impossible. But, UpLift Solutions trains former offenders, and if they pass the six week course, they get hired at ShopRite, a grocery store. For some, the program is life changing.

In rural Tennessee the unemployment rate can be very high, making it hard for inmates to find jobs upon their release, which then increases the rate of recidivism. The Rural Reentry Program has set up training programs for inmates while in jail in order for them to earn their certification and then find work at a local factory. This effort helps lower recidivism and balances the cost of imprisonment.

As urban youth struggle to get onto a career track, Year Up equips these young people with technical skills and professional support to help them enter the job market. The initiative has scaled nationally in the United States, and it has given hope to young people while also providing a valuable resource for employees looking to hire competent workers.

Jail-to-Jobs, a program with one employee, has helped more than 260 formerly incarcerated people find full-time jobs. Created by a district attorney who saw former felons struggling to be considered for openings, the program links local companies with insurance and support in order to promote hiring.

In San Jose, manufacturing jobs can help reduce the economic inequalities in the region. Youth from marginalized communities are being recruited to join a high tech manufacturing job with the potential for career advancement.