Everyone deserves a second chance and the
opportunity to become a successful business owner if it is a goal. However, in a google era none of us truly escape our past. If someone comes to our door and asks us if we would like our grass cut, we probably would not ask the inquirer about a criminal background. But, if we own a lawn cutting business and are hiring an employee, we will do a criminal record check on the applicants. If an applicant’s background shows a criminal charge, we will likely deny the application for the job. Each of the inmates wants to leave the prison world never to return, but that requires a successful re-entry into society. A huge challenge for the prisons is that when the incarcerated get out, eventually most find themselves back in. In spite of many reasons for the high rate of recidivism, studies show that the primary cause is unemployment. On the outside they need a job to be able to eat, to have a place to live, to support their family, to hold their heads high, and to know they can handle freedom. But jobs are hard to find when an individual is an ex-convict. The best way to overcome the prison stigma is by our helping former PDL to start, run, and grow their own business .We want to thank Orchard Road Company’s Vice President Andrew Bautista and his team for conducting a business seminar for our SETBI students outside and the alumni to teach them how to start their own business, how to market it, and how to legally run it, as well as the key principles of marketing, sales, management with tools for selling the property. They learn incentives to generate income and tactics to overcome the systemic discrimination they face in the job market. It is easy to marginalize PDL, but many of them can transform their lives through education, training, entrepreneurship, and human courage. Those are the ones who deserve a second chance. Thus, this business seminar for the ex-offenders provided the resources and mentorship they need to overcome the stigma fo their criminal charge, to create economic opportunity, and to prevent the societal harm of recidivism.
