CHARLOTTE — Around 48,000 people are in prison in the Carolinas, and most of them will be released eventually. But if they can’t find employment, they’re more likely to re-offend or end up back behind bars.
Channel 9′s Erica Bryant found a local non-profit in Charlotte offering training and funding to those re-entering society, helping them to become entrepreneurs.
Gensie Baker is one of the people who got a new start with a graphics company she created called Re-Entry By Design.
“It’s about my personal re-entry, but it’s also about helping organizations and businesses re-enter the market space, whatever their space is,” Baker told Bryant.
A successful businesswoman now, her road to entrepreneurship was unconventional. More than 30 years ago as a senior in college, she said she started falling apart when her dad died.
“Drinking, partying, hanging out, snorting cocaine, the repercussions didn’t seem to connect with my brain,” Baker said.
Hanging with the wrong crowd, she says they asked her to deposit a check for $50,000. She now knows that check was fraudulent.
“They took me from bank to bank to bank and had me take out amounts lower than $10,000 so it wouldn’t trigger some reporting thing with the banks,” Baker said. “The next thing I knew, the FBI was looking for me.”
She also experienced domestic violence, and she says she got charged for throwing hot coffee at a boyfriend while defending herself.
Who is hiring people with criminal records?
For the next two decades, she stayed out of trouble, but she couldn’t escape the stigma.
“No one would hire me, I always checked the box and said yes, I have a felony on my record, and no one was willing to hire me,” Baker said.
So eventually, she hired herself.
Baker got help from City Startup Labs’ Re-Entry Entrepreneurship Program, or REEP. With the help of the program, Baker and others impacted by the justice system can gain tools to create jobs of their own.
“So I learned a lot in terms of, you know, who is my target audience, what type of people or organizations do I want to work with, how am I going to connect with them?” Baker told Bryant.
Participants receive a stipend while they attend classes, and at the end, they get startup capital.
“I was able to get support from lawyers at Wake Foret to learn about legal aspects of contracts, to just ask questions about what I needed to know about my business. I got a brand new computer,” Baker said.
CSL’s Henry Rock says he developed the program for those who are often overlooked and marginalized.
“[We teach] what we would call soft skills training, along with entrepreneurial training; they also receive training in digital tech services, so they get certified in that,” Rock said.
Baker says others can follow in her path.
“I think entrepreneurship is one of the best avenues for formerly incarcerated people, simply because it allows you to be paid at a market rate, it allows you to be valued, and it allows you to kind of create your own destiny,” Baker said.
CSL reports a recidivism rate of three percent among its participants, showing if people can support themselves, they’re much less likely to commit crime.
The non-profit recently got more grant money to expand services. If you or someone you know could benefit from its programs, click this link to apply.
More resources for the formerly incarcerated
There is help available for those who are re-entering society. Click the following links for more information on each resource.
- The Recidivism Reuction Hotline can provide information on jobs, housing, essential needs, and more at 1-888-852-0004.
- The Dept. of Justice’s Clean Slate Clearinghouse can help clear a criminal or juvenile record.
- MyMoney.Gov has a wide range of national resources for financial assistance, housing, career training, health and mental health assistance, student loans, and more.
- The National Reentry Resource Center has guides, seminars, and news updates for formerly incarcerated individuals.
- The North Carolina Formerly Incarcerated Transition Program can help those re-entering society who have chronic medical conditions, mental illnesses, or substance use disorders.
- Root & Rebound helps people in South Carolina who have been marginalized by incarceration, offering services like legal clinics and reentry conferences.
(VIDEO: Group turns Anson Co. prison into trade school to teach kids with incarcerated parents new skills)
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