Through mass incarceration, we have decided that millions of our fellow citizens should be locked out of opportunity.

Each year, more than 500,000 people are released from incarceration, and research shows that access to employment is one of the greatest predictors of whether they will re-offend and fall back into the vicious cycle. A National Institute of Justice report showed that “a criminal record reduced the likelihood of a callback or job offer by nearly 50 percent” and noted that “more than 80 percent of U.S. employers perform criminal background checks on prospective employees.”

Even with the positive progress of the Ban the Box movement and other reform pushes, the numbers are still daunting. Two-thirds of people released from incarceration are arrested for a new offense within three years.

We are backing them with funding, capacity building, and public awareness support so they can grow the impact of their organizations and their message: entrepreneurship is a power tool to help end mass incarceration.

Read the full article on mass incarceration by Tulaine Montgomery at Medium