The Obama administration announced a series of programs Friday aimed at helping people with criminal records find jobs and gain an education, the administration’s latest effort to help reduce recidivism.
“People with a criminal record have unlimited potential,” Labor Department Secretary Thomas Perez told reporters on a conference call. “The criminal justice system can affect all of us … And we’re squandering people with a criminal record by not giving them a second chance.”
One of the initiatives put forth by the Department of Education would help put students in educational and training programs. The Second Chance Pell Pilot Program pairs 67 colleges and universities with 141 federal and state correctional facilities to enroll 12,000 students in classes both in person, online or at a correctional facility. Most colleges are public colleges — Villanova University, for example — and none are for-profit.
The department also pushed back against the idea that giving Pell grants to prisoners isn’t legal, isn’t wise or both.
“Promoting the education and job training for incarcerated individuals makes communities safer by reducing recidivism, and saves taxpayer dollars by lowering the direct and collateral costs of incarceration,” Education Secretary John King Jr told reporters.
Seven organizations were awarded over $31 million in grants from the Labor Department to design programs for young adults aged 18-24 to help with job training, with a focus on providing occupational training and credentials with the hopes they receive “meaningful employment.”
Organizations operating specialized job centers inside correctional facilities will receive 11 grants worth over $5 million. Five nonprofit organizations and two local governments will receive $6.5 million in grants to provide mentorship and career training to youths in high school at risk of dropping out.
The Departments of Housing and Urban Development and Justice both awarded seven organizations $8.7 million to help study the relationship between homelessness and the criminal justice system.
Perez, Attorney General Loretta Lynch and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro are scheduled to appear at the Center for American Progress Friday morning to discuss both new and existing criminal justice reform efforts by the White House.
