In this article from RealClearEducation, Rebecca Villarreal (senior director at Jobs for the Future) makes the case for prison education programs to hire more alumni upon release.
By the summer of 2023, about 700,000 incarcerated people will be eligible for the federal Pell Grant, gaining access to a critical form of college financial aid for the first time in nearly 30 years. When the 1994 Crime Bill banned Pell for imprisoned individuals, the number of higher education prison programs rapidly dwindled from 1,500 to just eight. With Pell back on the table, institutions are once…
This news article from Open Campus is a first-person essay by Leo Hylton, an incarcerated graduate student in Maine who stepped out of the prison gate for the first time in more than a decade for an unusual reason: to meet his students on the campus of Colby College.
The Reentry Myth Busters are a series of fact sheets created by the partner agencies within the Federal Interagency Reentry Council (FIRC) and intended to clarify existing federal policies that affect individuals who were formerly incarcerated and their families.
This fact sheet addresses the following:
Myth: Incarceration exempts individuals from the requirement to file taxes, halts the accumulation of federal tax debts, and prohibits the receipt of tax credits and deductions upon release.
Fact: Incarceration neither changes one’s…
The Reentry Myth Busters are a series of fact sheets created by the partner agencies within the Federal Interagency Reentry Council (FIRC) that are intended to clarify existing federal policies that affect individuals who were formerly incarcerated and their families.
This fact sheet addresses the following:
Myth: Eligibility for Social Security benefits cannot be reinstated when an individual is released from incarceration.
Fact: Social Security benefits are not payable if an individual is convicted of a criminal offense and confined.…
The Reentry Myth Busters are a series of fact sheets created by the partner agencies within the Federal Interagency Reentry Council (FIRC) that are intended to clarify existing federal policies that affect individuals who were formerly incarcerated and their families.
This fact sheet addresses the following:
Myth: Employers have no federal income tax advantage by hiring an ex-felon.
Fact: Employers can save money on their federal income taxes in the form of a tax credit incentive through the Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) program by…
The Reentry Myth Busters are a series of fact sheets created by the partner agencies within the Federal Interagency Reentry Council (FIRC) that are intended to clarify existing federal policies that affect individuals who were formerly incarcerated and their families.
This fact sheet addresses the following:
Myth: The federal government’s hiring policies prohibit employment of people with criminal records.
Fact: The federal government does not have a policy that precludes employment of people with criminal records from all positions.
The Reentry Myth Busters are a series of fact sheets created by the partner agencies within the Federal Interagency Reentry Council (FIRC) that are intended to clarify existing federal policies that affect individuals who were formerly incarcerated and their families.
This fact sheet addresses the following:
Myth: Businesses and employers have no way to protect themselves from potential property and monetary losses should an individual they hire prove to be dishonest.
Fact: Through the Federal Bonding Program (FBP), funded and…
The Reentry Myth Busters are a series of fact sheets created by the partner agencies within the Federal Interagency Reentry Council (FIRC) that are intended to clarify existing federal policies that affect individuals who were formerly incarcerated and their families.
This fact sheet addresses the following:
Myth: An employer can get a copy of your criminal history from companies that do background checks without your permission.
Fact: According to the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), employers must get one’s permission, usually in…
The Reentry Myth Busters are a series of fact sheets created by the partner agencies within the Federal Interagency Reentry Council (FIRC) that are intended to clarify existing federal policies that affect individuals who were formerly incarcerated and their families.
This fact sheet addresses the following:
Myth: People with criminal records are automatically barred from employment.
Fact: An arrest or conviction record will NOT automatically bar an individual from employment.
This brief from the National Skills Coalition proposes a new $500 million Career Pathways Support Fund that would allow community and technical colleges to provide critical academic, counseling, and support services that help low-income and other nontraditional students succeed in job-driven education programs. The report highlights promising practices in career development from three states that are tackling these issues head-on, including the Career Pathways Initiative in Arkansas, the Pathways for Academic Career and Employment (PACE) program in Iowa, and the Basic Skills Plus program…
