2010 Green Pathways Out of Poverty Working Group (Re-Entry) Members

Marta Nelson is the Director of Policy and Planning at the Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO), a nationally renowned reentry program serving New York City for more than 30 years. CEO’s model of paid transitional employment, full-time job placement services, and job retention efforts has helped people with criminal convictions find over 10,000 full-time jobs over the last decade. Findings from an independent, random-assignment evaluation of CEO programs by the research group MDRC show that participation in CEO significantly decreases several measures of recidivism through three years of follow up. In October 2008, CEO opened the CEO Academy, which helps people with criminal convictions progress from the entry-level jobs they are able to find shortly after release from prison to careers in the skilled trades, specifically plumbing, electrical and refrigeration mechanics. For more information please read our case study or visit Center for Employment Opportunities' website.

Joseph Billingsley is the Senior Manager of Corpsmember Support Services at Civicorps Schools. Established in 1983, Civicorps Schools (formerly the East Bay Conservation Corps) is the oldest and largest regional urban corps in California. The mission of the Civicorps Academy is to promote youth development through environmental stewardship and community service and to further education reform and social change. Civicorps’ Recycling Program provides young adults who have demonstrated success and leadership in the Corpsmember Program an opportunity to gain advanced employment skills while still continuing to reach their academic goals. This innovative program operates as a specialized service contract for more than 150 public and private accounts in the region. The Civicorps also run a Field Program that includes job training in parks and open space maintenance and expansion, flood channel clearing, and tree cutting and pruning. For more information, please read our case study or visit Civicorps Schools' website.

John Mello is the Project Director for Civic Works’ green career initiatives. Civic Works is a non-profit organization that serves Baltimore City’s disadvantaged youth and adult residents. John oversees “B’more Green” and “EnergyReady” operations. B’more Green is an environmental workforce development program that prepares participants for entry-level careers in environmental technology and brownfields mitigation. EnergyReady retrofits existing residential buildings to create living spaces that are more energy efficient, more affordable, safer, and more comfortable. John is an Offender Workforce Development Specialist (OWDS), and a Building Performance Institute certified building Analyst Professional and Envelope Professional. Civic Works is committed to developing environmentally sustainable living wage employment opportunities that benefit unemployed and under-employed people in the Baltimore region. For more information, please read our case study or visit Civic Works' website.

John Gardner is the Executive Director for Construction Apprenticeship & Workforce Solutions, Inc. (CAWS), a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the representation of people of color and women in the construction trades. CAWS is a membership organization created by construction industry stakeholders, including major public and private developers, general contractors, trade unions, apprenticeship training organizations, and community-based organizations, to be a comprehensive, long-term solution to this under-representation issue. CAWS is part of the Community Equity Project coalition, established in 2009. The Community Equity Project targets low-income individuals living in areas of high poverty, with a special emphasis on people of color, veterans, homeless, ex-offenders, and low-skilled adults. The project combines employment and training resources of the Workforce Investment Act public workforce system with culturally specific case management. For more information, please read our case study or visit the Construction Apprenticeship & Workforce Solutions, Inc. website.

Kinnus Paul is a Job Developer for the Green Jobs Training Program at Detroiters Working for Environmental Justice (DWEJ). DWEJ is dedicated to preparing urban residents to take a meaningful role in the environmental revitalization of their communities. The Green Jobs Training program equips Detroit residents with the skills to pursue careers in environmental industries. Their trainees receive certifications in twelve areas related to the green economy. Throughout the sixteen-week program, trainees are required to maintain a strong work ethic, and receive six weeks of basic instruction in job readiness, math, computer literacy and life skills. DWEJ is committed to producing a highly skilled workforce. For more information, please read our case study or visit Detroiters Working for Environmental Justice's website.

Keith Bennet is the Program Director of Goodwill Industries of Greater Detroit's Flip The Script program. Flip the Script continues to blaze an extraordinary trail as a multidimensional outcome based male empowerment and training program with extensive and measurable success in transforming the lives of hundreds of minority males, specifically young African American men 16-30 years of age living in the City of Detroit and surrounding areas. FLIP THE SCRIPT has quietly positioned itself as a nationally recognized leader in providing human services, educational training, GED preparation, workforce development skills, vocational training and/or retraining, critical life and social skills development assistance to a populations many in society consider lost, hopeless, helpless and menaces to society. For more information, please read our case study or visit Goodwill Detroit's Flip the Script website.

Marcelino Salazar is a Program Manager at the Fresno Local Conservation Corps. The Fresno Local Conservation Corps (LCC) has been providing services in Fresno for since 1997. They currently offer paid job training in the areas of grounds maintenance, recycling, landscaping, construction and solar installation, including a job-training program for youth at the Elkhorn Correctional Facility. They also offer non-paid training in the areas of network cabling, solar Installation and the Reclaiming of rainwater. For more information, please read our case study or visit Fresno Local Conservation Corps' website.

Matilda A. Tennessee serves as the Director of Limitless Vistas, Inc (LVI), a non-profit organization devoted to creating career opportunities for disconnected youth by engaging them in Environmental Community Service Projects. Under her leadership for the past four years, LVI has received several grants totaling over 1.5 million dollars from the following organizations: Environmental Protection Agency, Americorps and the National Emergency Grant through the Corps Network. Part of LVI’s mission is to help disadvantaged young people complete their education, learn the necessary skills to become gainfully employed and build a hopeful future for themselves, their families, and their communities.  Since its inception in 2006, LVI has enrolled over 200 participants in one or two of the following programs: Brownfields job training, weatherization, and/or basic construction.  Students who matriculate through the program receive several certifications: Hazwoper, OSHA Construction, asbestos, mold and lead. For more information please read our case study or visit Limitless Vistas' website.

Martin Flores is the Executive Director of the Students for Higher Education Program at Los Angeles Youth Opportunity Movement in Watts. The Los Angeles Youth Opportunity Movement, established in 2000, provides 14 – 21 year-olds who live in the City of Los Angeles with services in the area of employment, education and training. Their OneSource Center connects youth to the workforce with training and skills development, including basic skills classes, GED preparation, resume writing, and computer literacy. The Students For Higher Education (SFHE) Program targets offenders aged 16-18 being released from Los Angeles County Juvenile Detention facilities that are returning to the City of Los Angeles and its surrounding communities. The goal is to get the youth engaged in school (alternative, high school, community college), employment (community based organizations, including green sites) and training opportunities.  For more information, please read our case study or visit the Los Angeles Youth Opportunity Movement website.

Jim Reid is the Project Coordinator for the Southwestern PA Reentry Coalition (SWPARC). An outgrowth of the Mon Valley Initiative’s Workforce Development program, SWPARC is a concerted effort to foster and sustain collaboration among agencies and employers in Southwestern Pennsylvania to coordinate and deliver resources, workforce skills and employment links to individuals whose criminal record presents a barrier to self-sufficiency. For more information, please read our case study or visit the Mon Valley Initiative website.

Amy Rynell is the Director of The National Transitional Jobs Network (NTJN),  a coalition of over 4,000 city, state, and federal policy makers; community workforce organizations; anti‐poverty nonprofit service providers and advocacy organizations committed to advancing and strengthening Transitional Jobs programs around the country so that people with barriers to employment can gain success in the workplace and improve their economic lives and the economic conditions of their communities. NTJN provides technical assistance to programs and government agencies which takes many forms, including sharing of forms and best practices, in depth program assessment and consulting, and drafting of RFPs and related materials. The NTJN also organizes conferences and events, promotes public policy improvements and supports research and evaluations of best practices across the country. For more information, please read our case study for visit the National Transitional Jobs Network's website.

Sol Rodriguez is the Executive Director of Open Doors, a non-profit whose mission is to strengthen communities by supporting the formerly incarcerated. The organization's goals are to successfully reintegrate formerly incarcerated individuals, reduce recidivism, stabilize families, and reinvest in communities and reduce incarceration rates. OpenDoors offers employment case management and group employment readiness classes, both inside and outside the prison. The OpenDoors employment preparation and placement program employs a full-time, experienced job readiness specialist who prepares clients to enter the world of professional employment and become responsible employees. These employment specific services are designed to compliment other services offered in the Resource Center to provide clients with holistic support as they prepare to apply for, get, and maintain sustainable employment.  For more information, please read our case study or visit OpenDoors' website.

Jessica Rooks is the Director of the Green Career Center at The Osborne Association which provides men and women with criminal records environmental literacy and comprehensive career development training that prepares them to enter and advance in the green economy.  Trainings began in January 2010 of this newest department of The Osborne Association, which has been serving formerly incarcerated men and women and their families for over 75 years.  The Green Career Center seeks to embody making a difference by helping people in the re-purposing of their lives and advocating for opportunities for them to contribute to their families, communities and the environment. An educator by nature Jessica believes environmental literacy is essential in preparing people for good green jobs.  She teaches ROOTS of Success curriculum as part of the Green Career Center’s training. For more information, please read our case study or visit the Obsorne Association's website.

John Valverde is the Business Manager of The Green Career Center of The Osborne Association which provides men and women with criminal records environmental literacy and comprehensive career development training that prepares them to enter and advance in the green economy.  Trainings began in January 2010 of this newest department of The Osborne Association, which has been serving formerly incarcerated men and women and their families for over 75 years .  The Green Career Center seeks to embody making a difference by helping people in the re-purposing of their lives and advocating for opportunities for them to contribute to their families, communities and the environment. At the core of John’s work his commitment to developing good green local business and connecting those business owners to a solid, skilled workforce. For more information, please read our case study or visit the Osborne Association's website.

Rob Hope is the Director of Workforce and Economic Development at Rubicon Programs, Inc., a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering people to move out of poverty and improving the quality of their lives. Since 1973, Rubicon has built and operated affordable housing and provided employment, job training, mental health, and other supportive services to individuals who have disabilities, are homeless, or are otherwise economically disadvantaged. Rubicon's Transitional Employment Program provides transitional work opportunities that are aligned with their business enterprise, Rubicon Landscape. Clients receive twelve weeks of instruction and closely supervised employment in Landscaping or Commercial Property Maintenance.  This program provides 100 to 150 clients per year the opportunity to enhance both their hard and soft employment skills in a supportive environment so they can transition to higher paying unsubsidized employment.  For more information, please read our case study or visit Rubicon Programs, Inc.'s website.

Jodina Hicks is the Chief Program Officer of the Safer Foundation. Founded in 1972, Safer Foundation supports people with criminal records become employable and employed, which supports public safety through the reduction of recidivism. The Safer Foundation uses a various program models and interventions to maximize the likelihood of not only getting a job, but more importantly, maintaining employment through that particularly difficult first year after prison. In 2009, Safer served approximately 10,000 clients and supported 2,700 jobs starts.  For more information, please read our case study or visit Safer Foundation's website.

Dave Trovato is a senior project manager at the Seattle Jobs Initiative, a non-profit workforce intermediary with the mission of creating opportunities for people to support themselves and their families through living wage careers. The Seattle Jobs Initiative employs a sector-based model to workforce development with a policy team that analyzes the labor market for strategic opportunities, and a program team that works with local community agencies and college to remove clients’ barriers to success and link them with full-time jobs that pay, on average, $12-$13 with benefits. The Seattle Jobs Initiative has placed more than 6,000 clients in jobs that meet strict standards, with participants realizing an average wage gain of $6,000 - $10,000 per year. For more information, please read our case study or visit the Seattle Jobs Initiative's website.

Jayne Sheridan is Deputy Director of Vermont Works for Women, an organization that works to address the needs of women in Vermont to earn a livable wage and to succeed despite numerous personal, educational and economic barriers to employment.  Through summer camps, school-based activities and vocational training programs, VWW also works to educate women and girls about the wide array of career opportunities available to them, many of which may have never occurred to them to pursue. VWW programs have been honored with regional and national awards. Three of their programs, Rosie’s Girls, Modular Home Program (Building Homes, Building Lives) and Step Up for Women, have been replicated nationally. For more information, please read our case study or visit Vermont Works for Women's website.

Gregg Keesling is the President of Workforce, Inc., which operates as a social enterprise  – a business with a social mission. The mission is two-fold: 1) become the recycling hub of Marion County and 2) help those returning from prison have immediate, legitimate earnings combined with a broad array of social supports. Workforce provides transitional jobs for recently released offenders in the emerging electronic waste recycling industry. This program seeks to keep as much electronic waste as possible out of landfills and recover the waste in a way it can be re-used in industry. WFI was the first recycler in the state to complete the stringent registration process for e-waste recycling developed by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management. Since 2006, the program has employed 287 people, paid near $1.75 million in wages and only 17% of participants have been returned to prison. For more information, please read our case study or visit Workforce Inc.'s website.