RecycleForce, Inc. helps ex-offenders transition back into the community through job training and important practical support, such as housing and legal assistance. Through the process of de-manufacturing computers, then packing and shipping the resulting e-waste, participants learn to use a variety of tool pack/weigh materials, solve problems, load and unload trucks and pallets, as well as how to safely operate machinery such as forklifts and balers. Every program participant receives a job and a paycheck – real money for real work – and the dignity that goes along with employment. Employment is coupled with a suite of wraparound services and support (such as driver license re-instatement, bus passes, housing assistance, budgeting/financial literacy, and access to various educational opportunities) and trainings that lead to workplace certifications that are transferrable to a variety of industries.

This program is designed to provide an opportunity and the corresponding support for Pennsylvania's Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participants to pursue a degree or credit or noncredit-bearing certificate at a Community College in Pennsylvania. Working in partnership with Pennsylvania's Commission for Community Colleges, KEYS was developed in response to growing research that demonstrates that TANF participants, who earn a certificate or degree, are better able to get jobs with family-sustaining wages, benefits, and opportunities for advancement.

Services offered include academic services, financial services (e.g., tax assistance, financial literacy), referrals to supportive services, coaching/counseling/mentoring, financial/material supports (eg. scholarships, emergency funds, computers).

A limited number of individuals enrolled in the SNAP program (20 percent of KEYS slots) and all TANF participants planning or currently attending one of Pennsylvania's 14 community colleges are eligible to participate in the KEYS program. Participants are provided with a KEYS student facilitator who assists with course scheduling and career guidance. Special allowances for supportive services are also available to support students' participation in KEYS. DPW's Special Allowances for Supportive Services can pay student registration fees for education and training programs and provide students with transportation and childcare assistance, books, and clothing.

KEYS participants have 30 months to complete their studies, though a range of shorter-term options, including one-year certificate programs, is also available. DPW has instituted a system for documenting and verifying KEYS students' work participation hours. Each student is provided with a schedule that includes classes, independent and supervised study hours, and all other countable activities. KEYS facilitators document and verify KEYS students' activities. This system of verification has increased the number of reported work participation hours.

The KEYS program reports that participants have shared that facilitators are the most crucial aspect of the program. Facilitators help in identifying careers with available jobs and assist in designing a course schedule that prepares students for these positions. Facilitators assist with financial aid applications, transportation and childcare arrangements, and maintain an open line of communication with DPW public assistance staff to ensure KEYS students are meeting requirements and receiving needed support services.

TANF recipients that are SEE participants can earn standard industry wages and receive the same benefits as other employees in a similar position, such as paid vacation and sick leave. SEE reimburses participating private employers for the SEE participant's wages at a rate equal to the state minimum wage plus $.50 for each additional $1.00 per hour paid over the minimum wage, and 14% of the total subsidized wages to cover training and employment related expenses, such as Unemployment Insurance, Workers Compensation and FICA. The SEE Hawaii Work “Graduates”; those who complete the reimbursement period have a 82.5% success rate of being retained by their employer.

Since 1997 the Community Jobs Program (CJ) has targeted to serve TANF participants who have been unsuccessful in finding or retaining employment, who have multiple barriers to employment, who are motivated to address their barriers to employment, and who want to develop the necessary personal and employment skills to obtain and retain employment. Intensive case management is provided by the Contracted Service Provider to ensure participants move towards barrier reduction, learn to manage issues that arise while maintaining employment, and develop ongoing connections to resources within the community.

Participants may remain in CJ for up to six months at 20 hours per week at a nonprofit organization or public agency worksite and are paid Washington State minimum wage. Participants also participate in 10 hours of stacked activities arranged by the Contractor and an additional 10 hours per week working with Contractor staff on barrier removal activities. Stacked activities include the following options provided by the Contractor or in partnership with other leveraged community resources: 

• Education Activities - Provided by local community/technical colleges. Options include basic skills, English as a Second Language (ESL), GED, and short-term certification classes.
• Job Skills Training- that provides specific, industry recognized certification or licensing Life/Soft Skills Activities – 
• Job Club Meetings/Mentoring - Job Readiness - Job Hunting Community Service Activities - Volunteer activities that are family centered such as their child’s school, childcare, Head Start, ECEAP, Boys and Girls Clubs, etc. to further promote family involvement –
• Court ordered Community Service Contractors will arrange for, and monitor, participation of TANF participants in stacked activities to ensure federal requirements are met.

To offer work experience, CEO operates transitional work crews that provide supplemental indoor/outdoor maintenance and neighborhood beautification services to more than 40 customers across the U.S. CEO guarantees every participant who completes a one-week job-readiness orientation up to four days a week of transitional work on a crew and daily pay. In addition to work and daily pay, CEO provides a robust set of wraparound vocational support services: on days participants are not working, they receive job coaching to find full-time employment.

• Job-Readiness Training: prepare people for success in the workplace
• Transitional Employment: provide immediate paid work experience
• Job Coaching & Placement: connect talented employees with quality employers
• Retention Services: provide ongoing support to ensure our participants succeed

CEO's program was independently evaluated by the US Department of Health and Human Services, which found that for individuals recently released from incarceration, participation in CEO resulted in lower rates on all measures of recidivism, including arrests, convictions and returns to jail or prison. Convictions of a crime fell by over 22 percent and re-incarceration for a new crime fell over 26 percent.

Training Futures delivers a 25-week program that includes 17 weeks of curriculum in critical office skills and software, including Microsoft Office Suite software, keyboarding, business communication, customer service, business math, and filing. The Training Futures program is operated as a business site; trainees attend classes Monday through Friday, from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Trainees are expected to dress professionally – the program provides each student with three professional outfits – and students must be on time and attend classes regularly.

A key part of the Training Futures experience is the 3-week internship. Training Futures staff arranges internships with local employers by carefully matching trainees’ strengths to “job orders” placed by an employer. Trainees report to that employer during the same hours that they attend the training session. To support participants’ job search, Training Futures provides skills training in resume development and interviewing; hosts job fairs where employers interview participants on-site; provides office equipment for participants and graduates, such as computers, Internet access, fax, and telephones; facilitates job clubs where participants offer support to one another; and provides ongoing coaching from the trainers and volunteers during the job search process.

In 2008, the program was selected as one of six sites nationwide to be a participant with the Aspen Institute’s Courses to Employment three-year Demonstration Project. A study released by the Aspen Institute about Training Futures shows 94% of trainees complete the program. 84% of Training Futures graduates go on to find employment after program completion with an average of $6,000 annual wage gain. 84% of completers gain college credit for their work at TF.

Since 2005, WeCARE has provided a comprehensive, individualized and integrated approach designed to not only evaluate an individual’s functional capacity, but also to truly help clients achieve their highest levels of health, functioning, and self-sufficiency.  A Holistic biopsychosocial (BPS) assessments which highlight a client’s strengths as well as functional limitations. The BPS assessment identifies all relevant clinical and social barriers thereby minimizing the need for reassessments and often diagnoses serious conditions of which clients were unaware; some requiring emergency intervention. 

WeCARE has developed a continuum of services including assessment, vocational rehabilitation, job placement, wellness planning and disability advocacy under one umbrella thereby reducing duplication and fragmentation of services. • Proactive wellness plans which link clients to treatment, facilitate treatment adherence, and monitor clinical progress to help clients become more functional. • Begins the vocational rehabilitation component with a comprehensive evaluation that results in an individualized plan of employment and a continuum of case management services.

The program included several wrap-around and supportive services focused on engagement and work experience for these eligible TANF participants including: a five-month transitional job, clinical case management, life skills development, transportation assistance, childcare referral, payment for work related expenses, short term skills training, and substance abuse, domestic violence, and mental health intervention. More than 80 area employers were recruited to participate providing thousands of hours in donated on-the-job-training.