RecycleForce

Workforce, Inc. dba Recycleforce focuses on a triple bottom line to measure success: social, environmental, and economic. We take things society throws away, like old electronics and retail returns, and the returning citizens society often throws away after incarceration, and make both into something new that benefits society. Recycleforce operates an employment social enterprise (ese). An ese is a not for profit business that employs individuals immediately upon release from incarceration and provides strong wages, onsite training to earn workplace credentials, assistance with criminal justice monitoring, and wraparound services like mental health and substance use services, mentoring, banking and budgeting, transportation, and housing assistance, all while on the clock. Our type 1 supporting organization, keys2work, not for profit alternative staffing employment social enterprise. Keys2 employs Recycleforce's program participants to foster the next step in their journey home with a better job, using the training and work acumen developed while at Recycleforce. Keys2work places workers into either temp-to-perm positions or direct placement jobs with companies who need employees. The goal is to help returning citizens secure a job with wages that helps empower a person to leave the world of crime and poverty and position themselves firmly on career ladders that support their families. We call this the abc model: any job - better job - career. Recycleforce trademarked the abc model. It a notable practice" that programs across the country aspire to replicate. See footnote 1. Recycleforce and keys2 use the abc model as a crime prevention strategy that positively affects the environment and helps companies find needed labor, thereby leading to a cleaner and safer community.we exist to - 1) reduce crime by preparing returning citizens to successfully enter the Workforce - recidivism is reduced when returning citizens receive the work skills training and support necessary for a successful return to society. The national recidivism rate ranges from 35% to 70%. In Indiana rate is 38%. The recidivism rate for the people served by Recycleforce in fy 2023 was 17%. The program contributes to public safety, increases tax revenue due to increased employment, increases child support payment, reduces overcrowding in jails/prisons, and decreases the cost of inmate incarceration and public aid to families without wage earners.2) keep electronic waste out of Indiana landfills - Recycleforce recycles electronic waste into industrial feedstock for manufacturers and other end users. This includes gold and other precious metals found in integrated circuit boards. Recovered commodities are sold and reused in the manufacturing stream and are used to make new products. For example, 85% of all steel rebar made in Indiana is from recycled material, and Recycleforce is a significant contributor to this.3) positively influence several social outcomes. Our reentry model has proven to: a.) Reduce government expenditures through lowered recidivism, and is especially effective for those hardest to serve and most likely to recidivate according to a us dol random control trial, b.) Grow the economy and local tax base, c.) stabilize families through paid child support as 100% of child support payments are made while participants are in the program, and d.) help industry and employers successfully employ the returning citizen as evidenced by meeting or exceeding every employment and retention outcome of us dol grants over the last 13 years.keys2work and Recycleforce's paradigm for serving returning citizens includes - * earned wages: all participants have access to living wage employment while pursuing education, training, and credentialing. All workers start at $15.00 per hour. * flexibility: flexible work schedules accommodate participation training and education programs as well as flexibility to adhere to criminal justice oversight obligations. * training and education: portable and stackable industry-recognized training is available during the paid workday, so workers are paid to earn their credentials. Preparation to take high school equivalency exams is also available during the paid workday. In 2022, we embarked on a joint venture with Indiana's community college, ivy tech. The Workforce training at Recycleforce provides 3-6 credits at ivy tech through its prior learning program. Details about this program are available upon request. *staffing: key to our success is developing alternative staffing partners that provide access to flexible temporary work for participants needing to complete education, training, and credential programs begun while in the transitional job. These staffing partners, like keys2work, then link workers to permanent employment upon completion. *peer mentors: many program participants who exhibit leadership skills are provided the opportunity to serve as department supervisors and team leaders as well as mentors for other program participants. Recycleforce is funded through federal and philanthropic grants and by revenue generated through recycling. Keys2work is funded through grants and revenue generated from its alternative staffing services. Recycleforce was involved in a significant random control trial known as the enhanced transitional jobs demonstration (etjd) project funded by us dol. From 2012 - 2018, 1000 people who exited the Indiana department of correction were randomized into two groups of 500 each and tracked for 30 months after the program exit. The main data measured were earnings and return to incarceration. Recycleforce was the only program of the seven studied that warranted a benefit cost analysis of its outcomes. That study brief is available upon request. Footnote 1: httpswwwblueprintsprogramsorgprog...