Prison to Employment: RivCo Endorses Work Program For Ex-Cons

RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CA — Riverside County supervisors signed off Tuesday on an agency's efforts to set up a program aimed at helping ex-cons, probationers and other "justice-involved" individuals find employment.

"I want to thank staff for their forward thinking on this," Supervisor Manuel Perez said. "We have to make sure to bring in resources, especially when it comes to the pipeline of folks who were formerly incarcerated. The best social service program is a job."

The Board of Supervisors approved the county Economic Development Agency's participation in the California Workforce Development Board's "Prison to Employment Program" and authorized EDA's acceptance of a $190,000 grant for that purpose.

Agency officials intend to apply for another $660,000 grant to ensure the program's long-term viability.

According to the EDA, the goal is to expand training and workforce integration opportunities to slash the county's recidivism rate, which recent estimates showed was about 40 percent annually.

Parolees and other post-release convicts who commit crimes are termed recidivists.

According to an EDA statement, the grant "will strengthen linkages between the workforce and corrections systems. In turn, processes by which formerly incarcerated and justice-involved individuals re-enter society and the labor force will be improved."

EDA's Workforce Development Division will handle all aspects of the new program, which will entail making support services available to applicants and matching them with regimens intended to help them find their place in the job market.

— By City News Service/ Image via Shutterstock