Second Chance Employment Resources
Second Chance employment resources connect people with records to employers, training, and support that reduce recidivism and improve hiring outcomes.
Work is the single most important stabilizing factor after justice system involvement, and targeted programs make hiring feasible for employers while protecting public safety.
Local workforce and training infrastructure amplifies these employer efforts. American Job Centers offer career counseling, training referrals, and connections to reentry services nationwide. They are a primary access point for job seekers and for coordinating federal support.
Apprenticeship pathways and RESTART style grants create durable career ladders. Apprenticeship.gov documents how apprenticeships and pre-apprenticeship models can include people with records.
The Department of Labor’s Reentry Employment Opportunities grants fund programs that link training, apprenticeships, and employer partnerships for justice impacted youth and adults.
Goodwill Career Centers provide local training, placement, and wraparound supports that improve retention. Goodwill’s national and local programs are a practical partner for scaling second chance hiring.
Employer intermediaries such as HireLevel’s 2ndChance program and staffing models that review backgrounds case by case reduce risk and expand hiring pipelines. These models can be replicated through public private grants and procurement incentives.
Honest Jobs is a national fair job platform that matches candidates to employers willing to hire people with records.
Community and nonprofit partners provide services that make placements stick. Jails to Jobs offers a job search training toolkit, workshops, and employer engagement resources that are ready to deploy in correctional and reentry settings.
Kelly Services’ Kelly 33 Second Chances Program recruits and screens candidates with nonviolent, non-relevant records and connects them to employers. The program is a model for scalable staffing partnerships.
The Second Chance Business Coalition convenes major employers and publishes toolkits and road maps employers can adopt. Its site and employer list are useful for public private partnerships.
The Federal Bonding Program provides no cost fidelity bonds to employers for at risk hires, covering the first six months and removing a common hiring barrier. The Department of Labor administers the program.
Second-Chance CDL Programs
FreeWorld: A nonprofit focusing on individuals with criminal histories, offering training and job placement, with costs potentially covered by grants.
Emerge Career: Provides government-funded training to those with experience in incarceration, probation, or parole.
Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO): Offers free Class A or B CDL training for justice-impacted individuals, including coaching and job placement.
Being a Second Chance Employment Resource does not mean a they will automatically be able to assist an individual with a sex offense conviction. All listed resources maintain full discretion over their hiring decisions.
If you have found this information helpful, have first hand knowledge of any of the resources or would like to add your organization to the list that supports second chance hiring, please email us at info@csamsupport.org.
