Criminal Justice Innovation and Second Chance Employment
As we began to identify the areas of focus for the Greenbridge Family Foundation, it was important to both of us that each issue moved us… spoke to our hearts. They weren’t just issues that we knew from an intellectual standpoint were important. And they weren’t just issues that are gaining headlines today. They were issues we talked about over dinner with our kids or found ourselves seeking out books and podcasts about. Or asking friends and fellow philanthropists about.
As we built our list, each of which will be shared and discussed through this blog in the months ahead, one of those ‘must have’ issues was criminal justice reform and second chance employment. George Floyd’s death was a turning point for many of us to finally do something. I was inspired by my daughter’s participation in the BLM protests. Since then, I have become much more empathetic and educated about the complexity and challenges of creating a more equitable justice system and to give those who have paid their debts to society a real second chance to become productive, law-abiding, contributing members to their families and communities.
For several years, I’ve been on the board of FreeWorld, an incredible organization that works to connect ex-felons with high-wage jobs. With wrap-around programming offered to participants, and a pay-it-forward model to support the next cohort of ex-felons, their outcome data was what first caught my eye. The recidivism rate among Freeworld participants is close to zero when typical rates of recidivism are as high as 75%. That’s a big deal.
I’ve found such fulfillment from supporting an organization that is offering tangible solutions for folks today while also addressing systemic change by reducing the recidivism rates, and thus the overall prison population.
And as I’ve followed the last year's events and engaged in the national conversation around Black Lives Matter, police brutality, and criminal justice reform, I knew FreeWorld would be the first organization that we would choose to support through the foundation, but wanted to identify others.
I feel it is important to take a moment here to pause and acknowledge the incredible place of privilege from which I am able to engage with these complex, intersectional issues. I am privileged to have never feared a police officer driving by or had a family member or close friend who has spent time behind bars. My family has always had the means to support my brother and me to achieve our goals, which Ann and I have also been able to provide to our own children. And we know that for countless Americans, some, or all of the above isn’t true.
We believe it is important that we play a role in supporting the solutions that have been identified and created by those with the best kind of expertise: lived experience. We don’t have the answers, but we are eager to support those who do.
With that being said, here are some of the criteria we used when deciding on grants for this year:
A combination of organizations working locally in the Bay Area, as well as nationally
Organizations that were tackling these issues from an array of angles. Some are using the law to create change while others are working with employers to evolve hiring practices to make it easier for those returning to the community to find and secure well-paying employment. Others are bridging that pivotal time of transition for those preparing to return to the community with strategic skill-building. Others are working to decrease the school-to-prison pipeline to reduce the overall prison population.
Organizations that have chosen to welcome those with lived experience in this area into their senior leadership
Organizations that are actively engaging those with lived experience to act as guides and mentors to those in need of support
We believe that each of these organizations is doing innovative, meaningful, impactful work and look forward to following their activities over the year ahead. We hope you’ll consider learning more about them.
