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4 states to be selected for effort to improve education, employment post-incarceration • Pennsylvania Capital-Star [1]
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Date: 2025-08-12 17:04:48+00:00
A nonprofit plans to ask four states to participate in a $19.5 million initiative aimed at transforming how people transition from prison to the workforce.
The Fair Chance to Advance initiative, led by the national nonprofit Jobs for the Future, hopes to provide funding and support over four years to help states expand access to postsecondary education in prison and strengthen connections to employment after release.
The new initiative comes as state prison systems across the country continue to launch and expand education and work training programs. With the restoration and expansion of federal Pell Grant eligibility to incarcerated students in July 2023, the U.S. Department of Education estimated then that 760,000 people were newly eligible for federal financial aid — fueling interest in prison education efforts.
But that momentum has not always been enough to connect formerly incarcerated people to well-paying jobs and opportunities that align with their qualifications — even for those who have earned advanced degrees — due to systemic barriers such as employer bias and restrictive occupational licensing requirements.
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“What’s been the missing piece is making sure that those pathways are connected to quality jobs,” said Rebecca Villarreal, the senior director in the Center for Justice and Economic Advancement at Jobs for the Future.
Approximately 77 million U.S. adults, or about 1 in 3, have a criminal record, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, and can face persistent barriers to securing education, employment, housing and other basic resources after incarceration.
States can apply for the program; full proposals are due in October. Each of the four participating states chosen will represent a different U.S. Census region, according to Villarreal. Each state is expected to receive funding, technical assistance and access to a national peer learning network as part of a two-phase process beginning in February 2026.
A key goal of the initiative, Villarreal said, is to make education and workforce training acquired during incarceration more visible and transferable to employers. The program also aims to ensure that prison-based education and work training align with in-demand occupations and the broader labor market needs of each participating state.
As part of the initiative, participating states also will collect data to track post-incarceration education and employment outcomes.
Stateline reporter Amanda Hernández can be reached at [email protected].
Stateline is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Stateline maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Scott S. Greenberger for questions: [email protected].
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