Integrating Best Practices from Corrections and Workforce Systems to Match Jobseekers to Services: the IRES Pilot Project

Of the more than 2.3 million people incarcerated in correctional facilities across the United States, more than 90 percent will eventually return to their communities. Employment is a key aspect of successful reentry, but simply placing people in jobs is not the ultimate solution for preventing reoffending. An integrated approach is needed to ensure that criminal justice and workforce development systems utilize their available resources in ways that reduce recidivism and improve the employability of their shared population.

This webinar, based on lessons learned from the Integrated Reentry and Employment Strategies (IRES) pilot project underway in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, and Palm Beach County, Florida, will raise key questions that communities should consider to ensure the right people are connected to the right interventions at the right time in their reentry process. This webinar will be especially useful for corrections, reentry, and workforce development administrators and practitioners.

Presenters will:

• Demonstrate the importance of engaging leadership and task forces in planning a coordinated multisystem reentry process;
• Provide information about conducting timely risk and needs assessments and job-readiness screenings;
• Discuss strategies for inventorying existing services and available treatment interventions (pre- and post-release); and
• Highlight examples of service referral processing and data collection.

Opening remarks:

• DeAnna Hoskins, Senior Policy Advisor, Bureau of Justice Assistance, U.S. Department of Justice.

Panelists:

• Ray Woodruff, Employment Programs Manager, Wisconsin Department of Corrections
• Niel L. Thoreson, Regional Chief, Community Corrections Division, Wisconsin Department of Corrections
• Earl Buford, President and CEO, Employ Milwaukee
• Tamika Cooley, Program Manager, CareerSource Palm Beach County

Moderator:

• Erica Nelson, Policy Analyst, Reentry and Employment Program, The Council of State Governments Justice Center