Employment Programs For Ex-Offenders

Employment Programs for Ex-offenders

What are Employment Programs? Programs which increases an ex-offender’s capacity for and access to legitimate employment and/or promotes employment stability. Very often paired with education programs. Why are they important for ex-offenders? Lack of employment/attachment to the labor market, coupled with educational achievement, is one of the ‘Central Eight’ risk factors for criminal offending.1  Finding stable employment has been cited as the single greatest barrier to the success of ex- offenders in Missouri2  Employment provides a legal and stable form of income  Incarceration and a criminal record construct major barriers to legal employment  Many businesses and occupations will not hire individuals with felony convictions Promising Practices of Employment Programs Job Placement Organization provides either referrals or direct placement in jobs for clients.  Promising practices for job placement programs3 o Develop partnerships to provide a range of opportunities for education and job training o Work to achieve a balance between participants’ apparently conflicting needs to find a job quickly and for training and education o Hire a staff member whose job is to recruit employers and who has professional experience in that role o Think like a job placement organization—use a strategy to match the right participant with each job opening o Follow up with participants, and their employers, after they have been placed in a job. o Relationships with employers should be on-going and collaborative  Including visits to job sites  Ineffective practices o Job/employer lists4

1 Andrews, D. A., & Bonta, J. (2010). The psychology of criminal conduct (5th ed.). Cincinnati, OH: Anderson Publishing Company. 2 Insititute of Public Policy. (2011). Missouri Department of Corrections Community Reentry Funding Initiative 2010: Executive Summary. Columbia, MO: University of Missouri. 3 Jucovy, L. (2006). Just Out: Early Lessons from the Ready4Work Prisoner Reentry Initiative. Baltimore: Annie E. Casey Foundation. 4 Bureau of Justice Assistance. (2012, December 11). Faith & Community Based Approaches to Transitional Employment Programs for Formerly Incarcerated Individuals. Retrieved from National Center for Justice Progams: http://www.ncjp.org/content/faith-community-based-approaches-transitional-employment-programs-formerly- incarcerated-indi

1 Prepared by Megan Foster, Graduate Intern April 2013 Transitional Jobs Program places participants in short-term jobs contracted through the agency. These jobs are generally not full-time, but the participant commits to a full-time, 40 hour/week, schedule with the agency. The rest of their time with the agency is expected to be filled with other services within the agency such as skills training, job placement and case management.  One program, CEO in NYC, found that transitional jobs had the greatest effect on high-risk offenders, however, these effects on recidivism were not apparent until after the first year56.

Job Training Pre-Employment Training Organizations provide courses to clients around skills needed to procure and maintain a job. These courses address expectations and may include coaching around interviewing and applications. Curricula are generally split into two primary categories:

Soft Skills Soft skills are informal skills that promote success in employment other life aspects  How to dress for work or an interview  Time management (showing up on time, consistently)  Positive interactions with coworkers  Writing a resume  Conflict management

Hard Skills Skills that are specific to the job or work that the individual is doing. Some form of formal education or certification may be required to demonstrate hard skills  Computer skills  Wood working  Cooking and food preparation

Educational Programs (see Educational Programs handout)

Mentoring  Ready4Work, a federal initiative, has found that including a mentoring aspect to an employment program increases the average length of time that individuals remain in the program and doubles their likelihood of finding a job7  When mentoring is a supplement to other services such as job training or placement, mentees were also 35% less likely to recidivate than participants who were not mentored.8 Mentoring is not effective as a stand-alone program

5 Zweig, J., Yahner, J., & Redcross, C. (2011). For whom does a transitional jobs program work? Criminology & Public Policy, 10(4), 945-972. doi:10.1111/j.1745-9133.2011.00767.x 6 More information on this program can be found at http://ceoworks.org/ 7 Farley, C., & McClanahan, W. S. (2007). Ready4Work in Brief: Update on Outcomes; Reentry May Be Critical for States, Cities. Philadelphia: Public/Private Ventures. 8 Bauldry, S., Korom-Djakovic, D., McClanahan, W., McMaken, J., & Kotloff, L. (2009). Mentoring Formerly Incarcerated Adults: Insights from the Ready4Work Reentry Initiative. New York: Public/Private Ventures.

2 Prepared by Megan Foster, Graduate Intern April 2013 Motivational Interviewing “A consumer-centered, directive method for enhancing intrinsic motivation to change by exploring and resolving ambivalence.” 9 Both MI is recognized as a model practice by NREPP.

Financial/Asset Management Many ex-offenders do not have basic financial management or banking skills and may not have access to banking services due to lack of work history and the neighborhoods in which they live (Cite)

Asset development ( gaining higher education, owning a car or home, having a savings account and or credit) promotes both short and long term success for reentering offenders10

Needs Assessment Establish readiness for work and possible work options11

Case Management/Wraparound Services (See Case Management for Ex-Offenders handout) Measurable Outcomes for Employment Programs Short-Term Development of Skills to acquire employment  Soft Skills  Hard Skills Job Placement

Long-Term Long-term, consistent involvement with Labor Market Retention of same job for at least 6 months Remaining consistently and legally employed even if not at original placement location Upward or horizontal mobility within the labor market Financial Stability  Financial capacity to care for basic needs of self and/or children o Includes ability to pay child support if applicable

9 Blandford, A. M., & Osher, F. C. (2012). A Checklist for Implementing Evidence-Based Practices and Programs for Justice-Involved Adults with Behavioral Health Disorders. Rockville, MD: SAMHSA’s GAINS Center for Behavioral Health and Justice Transformation.; Miller, W. R., & Rollnick, S. (2002). Motivational Interviewing: Preparing People for Change (2nd ed.). New York: Guilford Press.; Orbis Partners, Inc. (2005). Motivational Interviewing: An Introduction [Lesson Plan and Participant's Manual]. Washington, DC: National Institute of Corrections. 10 Martin, L. (2011). Debt to Society: Asset Poverty and Prisoner Reentry. Review Of Black Political Economy, 38(2), 131-143. 11 Bureau of Justice Assistance, 2012

3 Prepared by Megan Foster, Graduate Intern April 2013 o Financial capacity to repay court-mandated fees  Asset accumulation and development o Savings for self and/or children o Build or establish credit o Car or home

Housing Stability

Reduced Recidivism  A meta-analysis found that traditional post-release employment programs showed no significant effect on rates of rearrest12  An evaluation of the Missouri Reentry Process found that employment programs had a significant effect on recividism when they were the only service offered13  While it is difficult to ascertain the effects on employment programs specifically, unemployment has been linked to higher rates of recidivism14  Some programs do show promise: o Ready4Work participants were found to be half as likely to return to prison at both 6 months and 1 year compared to average15 Barriers to Outcomes Stigma around hiring former prisoners  “Checking the box”

Lack of soft skills Unstable housing Unstable transportation16 Ongoing substance abuse or dependence Untreated mental illness Requirements of probation, parole or treatment  Release requirements often have specific timetables that may or may not conflict with the individual’s work schedule

12 Visher, C. A., Winterfield, L., & Coggeshall, M. B. (2005). Ex-offender employment programs and recidivism: A meta-analysis. Journal of Experimental Criminology, 1, 295-315. 13 Insititute of Public Policy, 2011 14 Lockwood, S., Nally, J., Ho, T., & Knutson, K. (2012). The Effect of Correctional Education on Postrelease Employment and Recidivism: A 5-Year Follow-Up Study in the State of Indiana. Crime & Delinquency, 58(3), 380- 396. 15 Farley, C., & McClanahan, W. S. (2007). Ready4Work in Brief: Update on Outcomes; Reentry May Be Critical for States, Cities. Philadelphia: Public/Private Ventures.; Solomon, A. L., Visher, C., La Vigne, N. G., & Osborne, J. (2006). Understanding the Challenges of Prisoner Reentry: Research Findings from the Urban Institute's Prisoner Reentry Portfolio. Washington, DC: Urban Institute. Retrieved from http://www.urban.org/url.cfm?ID=411289 16 Insititute of Public Policy, 2011; Solomon, Visher, La Vigne, & Osborne, 2006

4 Prepared by Megan Foster, Graduate Intern April 2013  Regular urinalysis testing  Regular in-person visits with PO  Regular attendance of treatment/program meetings

Fear of rearrest  Former prisoners often stop going to work if they know they are in violation of release or fear they will have be incarcerated because their work is known to their PO.

Unregulated/illegal markets  Ability to make more money  Wages aren’t tracked and automatically deducted for court compensation or back payments  More flexible time Resources Career OneStop: http://www.careeronestop.org

Cities Pave the Way: Promising Reentry Policies that Promote Local Hiring of People with Criminal Records (2010): http://www.saferfoundation.org/files/documents/NLC%20Reentry%20Strategy %20Guide.pdf

National Reentry Resource Center: http://nationalreentryresourcecenter.org/

The Safer Foundation (Program Example): http://www.saferfoundation.org/

U.S. Dept. of Labor- Employment and Training Administration: http://www.doleta.gov/

Urban Institute: http://www.urban.org/

5 Prepared by Megan Foster, Graduate Intern April 2013