In Cleveland, fine dining serves up training – and dignity – after prison

There are currently 2.3 million people incarcerated in the United States. According to rainforest ecologist Nalini Nadkarni, that's a lot of brainpower and potential sitting unused. It was this thought that inspired the start of the Sustainability in Prisons Project (SPP). As a collaboration between the Washington State Department of Corrections and The Evergreen State College, SPP aims to bring science and education within the walls of confinement – all while promoting the conservation of both plant and animal species.

California is shifting to expand programs that help give incarcerated people the skills and knowledge they need to effectively transition back into society. Various re-entry programs for men and women across the state that connect people with education and job resources helped dropped recidivism rates from 44.6% to 41.9%, based on the state’s most recent data, and also cost taxpayers less than the average cost of incarceration.

A workforce development program in Washington D.C. gives locals the opportunity to intern at energy companies for on-the-job training four days a week and attend class-style training one day a week. Participants earn a living wage and graduate with the skills necessary for a full-time position in the sustainability sector.

The Kansas City nonprofit KC Can Compost is preparing people experiencing homelessness, formerly incarcerated men, and youth aging out of foster care for jobs in the environmental sector with its Green Core Training Program. Those enrolled in the five-week program learn about environmental issues, solutions, potential jobs, and necessary work and life skills before receiving a pre-apprenticeship certification.

The National Museum of Mexican Art’s Yollocalli Arts Reach provides space for young people to collaborate with each other, work with mentors, and gain exposure to different art forms and creative skills. Yollocalli serves Chicago’s youth in predominately Latino neighborhoods and focused on free art programming, mentorship, and career support. The programming emphasizes creativity as a tool for youth to learn to express their needs, share their ideas, and influence their environment. Nearly 3,000 teenagers and young adults have participated in Yollocalli’s programs with forty lead artists.

Code/Art trains art teachers in a curriculum that combines art and coding, with the goal of inspiring girls to code. They also offer weekly clubs for elementary and middle school girls, a Future Female Tech Leaders program for high schoolers, and an annual conference to celebrate the girls’ achievements. Teachers who take the training can satisfy continuing education requirements by learning four lessons: an abstract art generator and donut maker game, coding self-portraits using JavaScript, and 3-D modeling. Facilitators are assisted by college-age interns, who are available to help in the classroom.

An educational program called ROOTS (Restoring Our Original True Selves) taught at San Quentin prison in Marin County, California, has transformed into the Literature Club due to the pandemic and has reached other nearby prisons. The Literature Club, started by the Asian Prisoner Support Committee in Oakland, pairs people who are incarcerated with people outside, and they exchange emails to update each other on their reading progress and reflections. "More than a reading group, it’s a supportive space where emotions are openly discussed."

The first class of students enrolled in the Wesleyan University Center for Prison Education has just graduated. The program awards participants with an associate degree from Middlesex Community College in general studies and intends to serve as a tool against recidivism by offering an opportunity for success after incarceration. The Center for Prison Education has existed since 2009, serving 138 students thus far, and started offering a degree option in 2016.

In the Inside-Out Exchange program half of the students are college students, and the other half are prison inmates. The program has “expanded to about 150 correctional institutions across the globe” but the biggest takeaway is the effect it has on people. Students were “ engaged in a way they never had been in the classroom. For the inmates, suddenly their opinions mattered.”

Dorchester, the Boston neighborhood with the highest poverty levels, struggles to keep kids in school from engaging with gangs and crime. But College Bound Dorchester (CBD) is fast rewriting the solution to high drop out and recidivism rates, paying ex-offenders a weekly stipend to enroll in and complete a diploma program and proceed to (and through) college. With "core influencers" -- ex-gang members who have "left behind their troubled pasts" -- as role models in the community, CBD emulates similar programs in Chicago and Baltimore, and studies show the initiative is working.