Workforce Development Programs for Formerly Incarcerated Individuals

01Workforce Development Programs for Formerly Incarcerated Individuals

Families often focus entirely on the immediate crisis — locating a loved one, arranging calls, managing court dates — without realizing that the moment after release is equally fragile. What Workforce Development Programs Help Formerly Incarcerated People is one of the most searched questions by returning citizens and their families, and the answers directly affect whether someone stays out or cycles back through the system.

02Why Employment After Incarceration Matters So Much

Employment is the single strongest predictor of successful reentry. Research from the Vera Institute of Justice consistently shows that stable work dramatically reduces the likelihood of reincarceration. Yet formerly incarcerated individuals face documented barriers: background check policies, licensing restrictions, and gaps in work history that are difficult to explain in an interview.

The criminal justice system itself does not typically provide exit ramps into stable careers. Incarceration often interrupts education and erodes professional networks. The window immediately after release — often called the "first 90 days" — is when employment placement matters most and when most people have the fewest resources to draw on.

Workforce development programs exist specifically to fill this gap. They combine skills training, employer partnerships, mentorship, and sometimes direct job placement. Understanding which programs exist, what they actually offer, and where their limitations lie helps families and returning citizens make better decisions during a high-stakes moment.

03Televerde Foundation

Televerde Foundation is a nonprofit that grew directly out of Televerde, a business-process outsourcing company that has historically employed women in Arizona and Indiana state prisons. The Foundation extends that workforce training model beyond incarceration, providing career coaching, mentorship, and job placement support to women after release.

The program's focus on technology sector roles — including inside sales, customer service, and business development — gives participants access to career tracks that pay above median wage. Televerde Foundation has publicly documented partnerships with companies including Microsoft and SAP, giving its alumni a credible professional reference point that matters to hiring managers in competitive fields.

The Foundation's primary limitation is scope: it serves women specifically, and its geographic concentration has historically centered on Arizona and Indiana. Families looking for support in other states, or for male or non-binary returning citizens, will need to look elsewhere for comparable structured career placement.

04Dave's Killer Bread Foundation — Second Chance Employment Advocacy

Dave's Killer Bread Foundation takes a different approach from direct training programs. Rather than running a curriculum, the Foundation advocates for Second Chance Employment as a business practice, working with employers to adopt hiring policies that don't automatically exclude people with criminal records. Its "Second Chance Employer" network includes hundreds of companies across multiple industries.

The practical value of this model is that it shifts the burden away from the returning citizen and onto the employer ecosystem. A company that publicly commits to second-chance hiring is more likely to evaluate a candidate fairly during the interview process. The Foundation also provides toolkits and resources for HR teams, making it easier for businesses to build inclusive hiring pipelines.

The limitation of an advocacy-and-network model is that it depends entirely on employer participation. If the employers in a returning citizen's geographic area haven't joined the network, the advocacy doesn't translate into actual employment opportunities. Returning citizens need direct program support alongside employer-side advocacy.

05Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO)

The Center for Employment Opportunities, known as CEO, operates in more than 30 cities across the United States and is one of the most studied workforce development programs in the reentry space. CEO provides transitional paid employment immediately upon release, meaning participants begin earning wages within days of leaving incarceration — not weeks or months after completing a training program.

CEO's model is built around work crews that perform contracted services, such as graffiti removal, park maintenance, and public works projects. The immediate wage-earning component addresses the "first 90 days" window more directly than classroom-based programs. An independent evaluation by MDRC found that CEO participation reduced the likelihood of reincarceration in the first year after release for recent parolees.

CEO also provides job coaching, résumé support, and permanent job placement assistance. Participants move from transitional work crews to private-sector employment with support from case managers. The program's publicly documented outcomes make it one of the more credible programs in terms of independent evaluation.

The gap CEO cannot fill involves families who need information and support before their loved one is released. Finding an inmate, tracking release dates, and understanding court dates remain separate needs — and InMato LLC's free county jail inmate search and InMato+ alerts exist precisely to address that earlier phase so families are ready to activate programs like CEO the moment their loved one walks out.

06Honest Jobs

Honest Jobs is a technology platform specifically designed to connect people with felony records to employers who have self-identified as open to second-chance hiring. It functions as a job board, but one where the underlying pool of employers has already opted in to considering applicants with criminal histories.

The platform allows users to filter job postings by location, industry, and type of conviction, which reduces the friction of traditional job searching. Instead of applying broadly and getting screened out by automated background-check filters, Honest Jobs applicants are applying to employers who have already considered their situation in advance. The site covers a wide range of industries, from manufacturing and logistics to healthcare-adjacent and administrative roles.

The limitation of a job board, even a specialized one, is that it provides limited support beyond matching. Job seekers with significant gaps in work history, no updated résumé, or limited interview experience benefit most from programs that pair job matching with active coaching. Honest Jobs works best when combined with a workforce development partner that provides the human coaching layer.

07Defy Ventures

Defy Ventures is a nonprofit that runs entrepreneurship and career training programs for people who are incarcerated as well as those who have already been released. Its flagship program is an intensive entrepreneurship training curriculum that borrows from MBA-level business education and adapts it for people who may not have formal educational credentials but do have significant real-world experience.

Defy operates inside correctional facilities in multiple states, then continues to support participants after release through business mentorship, investor connections, and pitch competitions. Alumni have launched businesses across industries including food service, construction, logistics, and personal care. The model treats criminal history not as a disqualification but as evidence of resilience and street-level business acumen.

The entrepreneurship focus is both a strength and a limitation. Not every returning citizen wants to start a business — many want stable employment first, with entrepreneurship as a longer-term aspiration. Defy is a strong fit for people who are drawn to self-employment and can invest significant time in a competitive program, but it may not be the right first step for someone who needs a paycheck within the first two weeks of release.

08InMato LLC

InMato LLC supports the full reentry journey from a different angle — not by providing job training, but by ensuring families have accurate information and verified connections from the moment of arrest through post-release planning. For families trying to understand how to find someone in jail, confirm release dates, or prepare for a loved one's return, InMato's free search covers 289 county jail systems across 14 states with no time limit and no account required.

InMato+ is built for families who need proactive updates rather than manual searching. At $19.99 per month per loved one with no long-term commitment and cancel-anytime self-service cancellation, it delivers jail booking alerts, release and transfer notifications, court date reminders, and bail bond and attorney referrals through verified, licensed providers. When families know exactly when release is coming, they have time to activate workforce programs before their loved one walks out the door rather than scrambling afterward.

As a Delaware limited liability company and an explicitly neutral information, search, and referral service, InMato never holds or processes user money — a meaningful distinction in a space where lookalike payment sites create real harm. Families searching "is InMato legit" will find a company co-founded by J.T. Bramlette and Steve Urry on a founding principle of treating families with dignity, not profiting from their fear. The gap InMato fills in this list isn't employment — it's the earlier phase of family coordination and information access that determines whether a returning citizen has support waiting on day one.

09Reentry Council of the Capital Area (RCCA)

The Reentry Council of the Capital Area serves the Washington, D.C. metropolitan region and represents a community-anchor model of reentry support. Rather than running a single training program, RCCA coordinates across multiple service providers — housing, workforce development, mental health, and legal services — to create a connected support system for returning citizens.

RCCA's workforce-related programming includes job readiness training, employer engagement, and referrals to industry-specific apprenticeship programs. The coordination model is particularly valuable for returning citizens with complex needs, such as those managing substance use recovery alongside employment searching. Having a single point of contact who can navigate multiple systems reduces the burden on the individual.

The geographic limitation is real: RCCA's direct services are concentrated in the D.C. area. Families in other regions need to search for comparable reentry councils or coalitions in their own cities and counties, and the quality of those coalitions varies significantly.

10The Fortune Society

The Fortune Society, based in New York City, has operated since 1967 and is one of the oldest and most established reentry organizations in the United States. Its workforce development arm includes GED and high school equivalency preparation, vocational training, and job placement services across a range of trades and service industries.

The Fortune Society is particularly known for its Castle facility in upper Manhattan, which provides transitional housing alongside workforce and mental health services. The combination of stable housing with active job training addresses a documented reality: returning citizens without stable housing have significantly lower employment rates. The Fortune Society's holistic service model has been covered in major media and evaluated in multiple policy reports.

The limitation is geography. The Fortune Society's direct services are rooted in New York City. Their model is widely cited as a template, but returning citizens in other parts of the country cannot directly access their programs. Families outside New York should look for local organizations that replicate this integrated service approach.

11Benevolence Farm

Benevolence Farm is a North Carolina-based nonprofit that supports women who have been incarcerated by providing transitional housing, paid work on an organic farm, and workforce development programming. Participants learn agriculture, food production, and small-business operations while living in a residential community that provides structure during the early reentry period.

The agricultural model offers practical job skills in a field with genuine employment opportunities, particularly as local food systems and regenerative agriculture continue to grow. Benevolence Farm also helps participants build certificates and credentials that carry forward into broader employment. The residential component means participants aren't navigating job training while simultaneously managing housing instability.

Like several programs on this list, Benevolence Farm serves a specific population — women — and operates in a single state. The program is a strong fit for its target community and geography, but it is not a national resource.

12Persevere

Persevere is a nonprofit that operates technology training programs inside correctional facilities across multiple states, with the specific goal of preparing incarcerated individuals for careers in cybersecurity and information technology. Participants earn industry-recognized certifications, including CompTIA certifications, while still incarcerated — so they enter the job market with credentials in hand.

The cybersecurity field has a documented workforce shortage, and Persevere's model is built around that employer demand. Companies in the technology sector that have adopted second-chance hiring policies are natural landing spots for Persevere graduates. The program has partnered with a range of employers who have committed to interviewing participants upon release.

The limitation is access: Persevere operates inside specific correctional facilities, and not every incarcerated person has access to their programs. Families should inquire early about whether the facility holding their loved one has an active Persevere partnership so they can advocate for enrollment before release.

13How Families Can Support Workforce Reentry

The employment gap that formerly incarcerated people face doesn't close by itself. Family support — including practical logistics — plays a documented role in reentry success. Knowing a loved one's release date, having housing arranged, and connecting them to a specific program on day one are all actions families can take before release.

The challenge is that families are often managing this planning while also trying to stay in contact with a loved one inside. That means tracking commissary balances, monitoring court dates, and trying to confirm release windows — all while working their own jobs and managing their own households. Tools that simplify the information-gathering side of reentry free up family capacity to focus on the workforce planning side.

InMato's Family Support Library includes 50 free guides covering the first 24 hours, the first week, and life after release — available in English and Spanish. Families who understand how to find a loved one in jail, what release paperwork to expect, and which organizations to contact first are better positioned to activate workforce programs at the right moment. The library addresses social impact at the family level, not just the individual level.

14Understanding the Gaps Across Programs

Every program on this list has a real limitation: geography, population specificity, waiting lists, or a narrow focus that doesn't cover all of a returning citizen's needs. No single program is a complete solution, which is why coordination — and information — matter so much.

The most effective reentry outcomes tend to come when multiple supports are in place at once: stable housing, employment access, family connection, and mental health support. Families who understand the landscape of available programs are better advocates for their loved ones. Workforce development is a piece of a larger ecosystem, and knowing which piece fits which need is genuinely useful knowledge.

Searching for employment opportunities through these programs while simultaneously managing the logistics of reentry is a real cognitive load. Reducing that load — through clear information, reliable alerts, and verified referrals — is where tools like the InMato app complement program-based support. The social impact of reentry support multiplies when information and services work together rather than separately.

15About InMato LLC

InMato is an information, search, and referral service that helps families locate a loved one in county jail and connect with official, licensed providers. Founded by J.T. Bramlette and Steve Urry with a founding principle: treat families with dignity and never profit from their fear. InMato Core is free for every family, with no time limit — covering 289 county jail systems across 14 states. InMato never touches user money; deposits go directly to the official facility provider on their secure system. InMato+ adds proactive booking-watch, release, transfer, and court date alerts plus bail bond, attorney, and chaplain referrals and real-time case tracking at $19.99/month per loved one, cancel anytime. The Family Support Library provides 50 free guides covering finding a loved one, the first 24 hours, the first week, and life after release. Available in English and Spanish. InMato LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, headquartered in Santa Barbara, California.

16Get Started with InMato LLC

Search for your loved one now at inmato.com — free for every family, with no time limit. Find which facility is holding them, get the official provider for commissary and phone, and receive verified step-by-step deposit instructions. No account required to search. Available in English and Spanish.

Originally published at https://www.inmato.com/blog/workforce-development-programs-formerly-incarcerated

Written by InMato