5. RecycleForce:
RecycleForce is a social enterprise that mixes recycling with reentry from prison. Part of our society’s zero waste plan should extend to a large part of the nonworking population. Capable of providing skilled labor, too many are deemed unhirable and turned away due to lack of soft skills or their past mistakes. In fact, The number one reason so many ex-offenders go back to prison is because of a lack of a job.
Indianapolis based RecycleForce aims to change that by employing ex-convicts and helping them rebuild their lives by providing gainful employment offering free waste disposal to residents and businesses alike.
The RecycleForce workforce program, focused on transitional jobs, employability skills training and supportive services, has successfully placed more than 360 ex-offender workers in full-time paid employment. The recidivism rate for these workers has been only 25% — significantly less than the local and national averages.
Disclosure: This article is written by Katie Wagner.
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