GETTING THERE:
Keeping A Job Is Not Always Easy
As Woody Allen famously said, “Showing up is 80% of life.”
For decades, reentrants from incarceration had to “check the box” when applying for a job. Checking the box meant they had a criminal record. They might as well have crumpled up the application form and thrown it in the circular file. Nobody was hiring them. But things have changed. Today, many companies, in partnership with 2nd Chance Indiana, are willing to give reentrants a job.
But even then, keeping the job is not always easy.
Anyone who has spent any time in a factory or warehouse knows that if you don’t show up every day, or are late half the time, you won’t have a job anymore. Far too many reentrants who did get hired were losing their jobs because they couldn’t regularly show up to work because they didn’t have a reliable ride. So 2nd Chance Indiana began a fledgling van transportation program that is now utilized all over the state, and lo and behold, these employees kept their jobs because it was never about their record or the work they performed, it was always about the lack of a reliable ride to work.
When you think about it, it’s ridiculous that we didn’t see this coming. Almost 60% of reentrants don’t have a car to get to work every day. When someone has been out of circulation for decades, does anyone actually think most of these reentrants will have a car or truck just waiting for them on a daily basis? The answer would be “no.” In fact, van transportation to and from work has proved to be the guardrail that keeps reentry on the road to success. And it works. Before long, these good employees are able to save money and purchase a vehicle. They generally move up in the company, and many are promoted. Meanwhile, someone else who is recently released gets the seat they vacated in the van.
The national recidivism rate stands at a disheartening 68% within three years after release, and with Indiana spending over a billion dollars on correction and incarceration, successful reentry is the first step to reducing cost and crime, as we build better communities.
Woody Allen was right. Eighty percent of life really is showing up. So we are committed to helping our Hoosier reentrants do just that, by making sure they can show up to work every day until they can get there on their own.
Self-sufficient and proud,
Nancy
