Summer is heating up for Cleveland workforce organization Towards Employment (TE), which just received more than $4 million from two national grant funders to help the organization further its mission of economic mobility and workforce equity in placing people in meaningful careers.

“We're really thrilled about both of them,” says Jill Rizika, TE president and CEO. “This national funding is truly in line with our strategic plan, which pushes us to use the capacity we are building to bring home new approaches and funding that help improve and/or build local workforce efforts.”

Both grants will help provide pre-release and post-release employment and educational resources for individuals transitioning out of incarceration, focusing on gaining credentials while still incarcerated and supporting skilled individuals through alternative routes.

The grant focuses on bringing employment and educational resources creating a smooth continuum as people are released from incarcerationOn Tuesday, June 25, the national economic mobility nonprofit Opportunity@Work announced that TE was chosen as one of eight organizations to receive a $2 million Powering STAR (Skilled Through Alternative Routes) Breakthrough grant for boosting economic mobility and combatting occupational segregation for workers historically excluded from high-wage roles. 

Opportunity@Work chose organizations that are committed to connecting workers who are STARs—those who received training through less-traditional routes—such as community colleges, military service, or on-the-job experience—to family-sustaining jobs and careers.

“Opportunity@Work is very exciting—it's a national organization that focuses on raising awareness, promoting use of, and removing barriers to STARs,” Rizika says. “If STARs do get hired, they're often not in a position to advance, or they're getting paid a lot less, even though they may perform as well or better than somebody with a degree. An organization like Opportunity@Work, which really focuses on the research and advocacy around this issue, has decided they want to invest in programming that supports these STARs”

A week later, on Tuesday, July 2, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) awarded TE a $4 million Pathway Home grant to help incarcerated and returning citizens get job training and connections to community resources through its Community & Reentry Program and Cuyahoga-Lorain Early Advancement to Reentry (CLEAR) program.

The CLEAR program is a partnership with Lorain Community College, the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation & Correction, and OhioMeansJobs centers. It is the only program in the Midwest to receive part of the more than $56 million in DOL funding distributed to 16 recipients across the country.

Rizika says TE plans to work with four area organizations, including The McDonnell Center Community Based Correctional Facility (CBCF) run by Oriana House and the Reintegration Center (NERC) in Cuyahoga County; and the Lorain-Medina Community Based Correctional Facility; and the Lorain Correctional Institution in Lorain County.

DOL Pathway Home grants are designed to help justice-involved people get needed training to secure good jobs as they reenter their communities after incarceration and eliminate gaps between release from prison and enrollment in a workforce development program. 

Yield Giving - Towards Employment“This grant [applies to] the pre-release/post-release continuum, which is excellent,” says Rizika. “This is a grant that focuses on bringing employment and educational resources—making sure there is a smooth continuum as people are released from incarceration. They can seamlessly move into the community with the supports they need and connect to good jobs and get continued support for retention and advancement.”

More than 25 Northeast Ohio employers, nonprofits, and government entities have committed to supporting returning citizens who build skills in prison and connecting them to employment upon release. 

“We have many, many partners, because of the support services that are needed and because we're in two different counties,” she says. “Community resources will differ. Some agencies do cross, but many of them are County based. So we needed to have partners in both counties to help address those support services.”

Additionally, Rizika says working with both Cuyahoga and Lorain Counties will help cover gaps that sometimes occur upon release from prison, because people are not always released into the same community where they have been incarcerated.

“That follow up becomes very difficult,” she explains. “We partnered with Lorain County so we could expand the overall jurisdiction. By joining forces, we're increasing the likelihood and opportunity to serve people inside who will then return to one of our two target communities.”

Rizika says each county brings different resources to help with job training. “Lorain county, for example, has a welding bring on-site so inmates are able to gain a credential while still incarcerated,” she explains. “And in Cuyahoga, we are taking our ACCESS to Manufacturing Careers program, which we've been working with MAGNET, to train people for manufacturing jobs and bring that curriculum inside. We can get that [training] done pre-release, so when they come out, they'll be ready to work.”

The other partners in the Pathway Home grant program include Lorain Community College, Achieve Staffing, Cleveland Builds, Cuyahoga Community College, Cuyahoga County Office of Reentry, Diamond Metals, Elyria Foundry, Evergreen Cooperatives, Fastener Industries, FrontLine Service, Goodwill Industries of Lorain County, Greater Cleveland Food Bank, Greater Cleveland Partnership, Lutheran Metropolitan Ministry, Manufacturing Works, Marble Room, Murtis Taylor Human Services System, Nesco Resource, Northern Ohio Recovery Association, Place to Recover Training and Resource Center, Passages, Reach Success, Starting Point, Talan, West Wing Recovery Group, and West Side Catholic Center.