Roadmap to Success™: Building a Workforce with Returning Citizens

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And just so, you guys know, that is actually a picture of my team at Tech Valley, as you see, is made up of all age, groups, demographics.

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I’m Tre Griffin-Braff, the Executive Director and Founder of the Roadmap to Success program. It’s a comprehensive career development initiative designed to empower historically under employed populations. Really focusing on 1st motivation and hope.

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Then personal development, and then sharing of the best practices in the corporate world.

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In addition to this, I also work with business leaders and their frontline managers, teaching them how to have success with these same populations. I find that this holistic approach has helped business leaders who oversee thousands of New York State employees. And I wanna help you guys in the same way.

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We could go to the next slide.

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And so the objectives for today’s session. We’re gonna understand the benefits of integrated under represented groups into your workforce.

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We’re gonna learn a little bit more about the roadmap to success program and the effectiveness of it.

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And then we’re gonna explore some actionable strategies for improving and retention rates of these underserved populations.

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We could go right on to the next.

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And so what if I were to tell you guys today.

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That your next top performer is someone who has been traditionally overlooked.

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Well, that is what I’m sharing with you guys today. And as you see, I go inside of the prisons I work with. The incarcerated population.

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But right in the middle of this picture there’s a picture of me.

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And I, too, at 1 point, was an incarcerated individual. I had a 12 year prison sentence.

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And upon release.

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I can tell you guys, there was a lot of discriminatory practices which led me being underemployed for years.

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And so I know how many organizations overlook me, being one of their next top performers.

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And there’s nearly 2 million other individuals who are incarcerated right now, who are gonna be released at some time. Who can be your next top performer?

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We could go to the next.

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And so if you guys aren’t familiar.

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You’re the hidden workforce and who they are. The hidden workforce is made up of individuals with disabilities.

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New citizens.

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You have youth, opportunity, youth, as well as return. And, citizens, those are the hidden workforce in America, in which case studies in a lot of

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A statewide initiative support, the need to incorporate the hidden workforce in your workforce. If you wanna have success in today’s workforce.

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We could go to the next.

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And so wanted to tell you and break down some challenges that we see face by different.

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By these different groups.

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And so what I did is I put together a little case study. And it’s a case study based upon individuals that I’ve worked with or individuals on my team.

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And so here’s a case story when it comes to opportunity. Youth.

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There was a young lady named Jessica, who was 17 years old, who had to leave high school to care for a younger sibling her parents. They actually passed away. In a car accident.

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And so after this happened she faced significant barriers, trying to enter the workforce because she had no diploma. She dropped out early. Because of this.

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And she also had very limited work experience. And so, because of this, she really struggled to find full employment.

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Many employers turned her away, just saying, like she had a lack of qualifications or experience.

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And then, also without reliable support network and stable housing, Jessica found it really difficult to attend interviews or even follow up on job applications.

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What that looked like for her is. It’s a reflection of many other opportunity who just seem to face these.

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Challenges. These compound the challenges, one challenge over another include an educational gaps. Because we see a lot of youth today. Are not sure if they wanna go to college, start a career or even start their own business as well as a lack of experience in economic instability. And so because of this, it hindered her ability to gain employment.

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And so we see a lot of youth and a lot of opportunity for those who are familiar with the term opportunity with youth, which I’m sure you are if you’re on this call. But that could be a you as up to 24 years old.

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And so we see that many of these you’ve lacked experience. There’s a lot of stigmas around them in the workplace of them, or bias of them being lazy. As well as just a limited work, history. And because of these things, opportunity, youth, are some youth that are some individuals who.

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Need to be in the workforce, but oftentimes aren’t employed, or they’re underemployed.

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We could go to the next challenge phase.

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Another underserved group.

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And oh!

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Feel like we might

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Skip the beat. I could be wrong, but

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So

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And I Kim’s gonna go back.

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Kim can, I guess.

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Alright, so

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This is just a slide that just talks about the history of the roadmap to success program. And just so you guys know, we’re gonna go back and address some more of these hidden populations. But this this particular slide just talks about the roadmap to success program. It talks about our mission and why we were created. It’s a it was a short news feature. And basically it talks about my life and how I was someone who was incarcerated.

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I served a 12 year prison sentence. I came home, and I couldn’t find a job.

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My big break, though, came after doing temp agencies for a year. In the forms of cleaning toilets at Marriott.

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Within 6 years I work from cleaning toilets at the Marriott, being.

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The general manager. And so my program. Now I teach other individuals how to get a job. I call ABC. I tell them, you know, get a job.

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They get a better job. But then let’s focus on your career path.

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And so that’s exactly what I’m trying to teach individuals how to do scale themselves up so that way. They could essentially go from entry level rows to becoming your next C-suite leaders.

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Part of the values in this program are really person centered. We value community. If you wanna have success with any of these population. You have to build your community out, and your community should be filled with individuals who actually have the lived experiences in these spaces.

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In addition to that, we’re all about create an impact.

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It promoted variety in the workplace, and we go with variety, because I believe every workforce should have some variety. That’s how your workforce gets strengthened. You get to see things from different views. You get to also challenge tough challenges.

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By incorporating different individuals. So variety is key.

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And essential. If you want to have success in the workplace. And that’s what the roadmap to success program does.

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We could go to the next.

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So how the program works.

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And I, Kim, I think we might have skipped a couple of slides.

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I could be wrong. But do you mind just trying to go back like 2 or 3 slides.

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Because it says we’re on 13 already.

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Yeah.

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Alright, so after this slide, where we talked about the incarceration, there we go right here. So the hidden workforce the other populations. We’re gonna talk about are people with disabilities.

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New citizens in return, citizens.

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And this slide just really highlights. How much of these individuals are missing out of the workforce like? You know, it says in 2,022, only 21% of people with disabilities were employed in the Us.

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Compared to the 65% of those without disabilities. Huge gap.

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For returning citizens. It says that returning citizens make up approximately 17% of the Us. Labor workforce.

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And they also experience some of the highest of unemployment rates in the country.

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And then, new citizens, we see that oftentimes are usually underemployed because they come with certificate so, or they come with licenses or degrees, that oftentimes don’t tri are transferable when they come to the country. And so you find a lot of individuals who have tremendous skills and knowledge. Yet they’re doing more entry level based work.

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We could go to slide 7.

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So this is Adam Grant.

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And I don’t think you’ll be able to hear the slide. But I have a podcast called prison bosses, and our interview individuals who have been formally incarcerated who are today bosses.

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And adam, for instance, serve 27 years in prison for armed robbery.

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Today he’s an executive director of the brighter way in Michigan.

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Just highlighting the fact that.

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Someone like Adam, who historically wouldn’t be given an opportunity in the workforce. And on the interview he actually went on to say that he went on 30 different interviews was offered 30 different jobs until they identified his background, and then all 30 pulled those opportunities.

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Adam had to start entry level work, at first, st volunteering at the brighter way, and then he went on to get an entry level job. Today. He’s the executive director.

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So back to that 1st question I asked, what if I were to tell you that your next power player in your organization.

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Could be someone from this underrepresented group.

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Adam is a perfect example of this.

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We could go to the next slide.

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And so people with disabilities was another one of those groups that we talked about. And this was a case study of someone named Sarah, a software developer. With visual impairment.

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This is a disability in the workplace. She experienced barriers when her employer did not provide the necessary screen. Reader, software.

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Making it challenging for her to perform her job.

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Despite being fully qualified and having the experience, the lack of accommodations and understanding. And I really wanna.

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I really wanna highlight. The word understanding more than anything from her employer, created a frustrating work environment, ultimately impacting her job performance and satisfaction. Sarah ended up leaving that job.

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And this is a common thing that we see with employers when it comes to people with disabilities in the workforce, lack of physical accessibility, insufficient workplace accommodations, and then the stigmas and misunderstanding. And you know, like I said for this one it was really understanding, because I believe in my heart. Well, I hope to believe in my heart that if her management and leadership team would have just identified that.

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A simple fix was just putting some necessary screen reader’s on there that they would have done so, but because they didn’t or didn’t take the time to understand the effects of it. They lost a great.

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Employee or associate on their team.

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We could go to the next.

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Another group is gonna Be the new citizens. And we talked about this just talking about one. Some of the barriers are the language barriers. We know there’s a lot of new Esl programs taking place.

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We also, as I mentioned earlier, non recognition of foreign credentials.

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And I did a case study here in Raj in a a civil engineer from India. But I wanna do want to give you guys someone that I know. Personally.

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And so I know a family personally who moved to the States from Africa. They were doctors in their country, came home.

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It, I mean came to the States, and they wouldn’t recognize their credentials.

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And so ultimately it asked them to work in the hospital at entry level positions.

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Both the husband and wife did this because they needed to be able to support themselves.

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However, it quickly shifted into entrepreneurship, and they started a transportation company called Amazing.

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Today. Now they have a fleet of vehicles. I wanna say, over 40 vehicles. They’re employing others. They’re uplifting other individuals. They put an emphasis on trying to help other new citizens. But again.

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These are 2 individuals who had tremendous talent in the workforce missed out on them because they didn’t recognize their credentials. And this happens time and time again, and so I encourage employers. Take a little bit of time to get to know those new citizens in your organization, learn a little bit more about their backgrounds, because ultimately you might have some true rock stars that are just doing more.

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Entry level work that should be giving leadership opportunities.

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We could go to the next.

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The last one’s gonna be return to citizens.

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And I could tell you about myself or Adam like we did. But here’s another case study of a gentleman named Jamal, who was a returning citizen. He served 5 year sentence for nonviolent drug offense.

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You know, he really couldn’t find jobs upon release.

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Despite his efforts to reform and build a better life. He was then repeatedly deny jobs.

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Due to his criminal record. Employers were hesitant to hire him, say concerns about reliability and trustworthiness.

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So this experience is not unique, because it’s 1 that I had myself is one that Adam, who I mentioned in so many others. Who I’ve talked to experience from a returning citizen, and a big thing that I like to highlight is the stigmas and the lack of.

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The stigmas and the discrimination that comes.

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With this. With individuals who have histories as well as limited work histories. Myself, I became incarcerated at 19. So I only really have one job. Before that I came home I was a grown man, and so I had very limited work history to start.

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However, what I try to encourage employers is that

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With the limited work history to actually take a deeper dive in the transferable skills.

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The same thing that I try to teach the gentleman that I work with, who are incarcerated as well, being transparent, but also explaining the skills that they gathered while they were incarcerated, as well as skills that they just had.

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The experience oftentimes individual skills that they have that are relevant to the job, that they’re skill development. But I think we’re that there are a lot of opportunities. We could go to the next slide.

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Ken we could go to. Oh, there we go.

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And the opportunity. We already talked through the opportunity. So we already went through the the program. The mission and values.

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And so the next slide is how it works.

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And so so the set map initiative has something called the roadmap to success in the roadmap to success is where we host, all of our curriculums.

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To date. We currently have over 60 curriculums addressed in the central competencies required for workforce success, that we offer to individuals who are incarcerated youth who are in schools to new citizens.

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In our programs as well as individuals, with disabilities and employers.

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Case we come in and we facilitate. These trainings are typically 120 min or 2 h, in which case we just try to really take a deep dive into these topics.

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And essentially our trainings. Then we’re able to work with employers on staffing afterwards, because now we feel comfortable sending. If we didn’t trainings on new citizens, you know, a pipeline of new citizens who could be valuable in your workforce or opportunity, youth, etc, etc. So we also help you with staffing, and I’m sure some of you would. Axwell. How can you help us with staffing if we’re in a different.

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So we have some connections in some another success story of a formerly incarcerated individual like my friend Harley, who owns honest jobs. And so we’re able to use platforms like that and find employers within different parts of the country who actually are second chance employers. I have another friend of mine who operates our disability. He very similar a job board for individuals with disabilities.

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So we’re able to help staff and nationwide in that space as well. And we work with an organization called Rise and Forward us Mark Zuckerberg’s company, in which case we work with new citizens, and we try to help with employment nationwide as well. So we do have legs nationwide to help with all of these populations. The only kicker is we have to work with employers on the training side as well. So that way we know it’s a whole list.

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The left and the right have both been working towards the same goals, and we’ve seen.

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Increase success in doing so.

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Next slide, please.

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These were a bunch of

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Testimonials. And it’s not gonna play. I’m happy because it all play at one time. But these are just some of the graduates of the program some formerly incarcerated some new citizens. Greg on the left, he went on to get his Cdl. The gentleman right in the middle. We helped him he was

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A higher risk. Individual, due to the nature of his crime, found it very hard to get jobs. We’re able to assist them with that the one right in the middle that was a new citizen. We were able to help her actually get back into college. And so she was taking college courses to continue her career. David, the one to the second from the the.

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Let.

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He’s a returning citizen who went through our program where college and has a job fulltime job working out there. He’s a gentleman who we were able to hose on to say how now he’s a leader in the family and ensure that he’ll never go back to jail. And so participants of our program has shown a 94% reduction in recidivism rates on the rate of return to jail and a 72% retention rate after one year with their employers.

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These were just some examples of employers that we’ve worked with. We work with some of the largest employers in New York State like price chop or a goal up, who owns most of the grocery stores, the Regional Food Bank, Eastern Regional Food Bank, as well as Stuart shops, which would be comparable to like your Wa. 7, 11, or those kind of convenience stores in your neighborhood. But as you see these letters, they just support.

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How much we’ve done in terms of training their frontline managers, their Hr. Teams as well as help them with staffing. And each one of these organizations. We’ve helped them save at least $30,000 per new hire that they brought in through our program. And like. We said, their retention rates have exceeded a year for nearly.

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You know, for over 70% of the individuals we help them with.

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Next slide, please.

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And with that being said, that kind of wraps it up definitely. Wanna leave some time. I know we only have a couple of minutes. And so I wanna thank you guys for your time and attention. I apologize for the little mishap with the technology piece of things. But I’m hopeful that you know this. This show is a this.

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Presentation, was able to show the value and help and working with some of these underrepresented populations in the workforce as well as the value of actually helping individuals go from entry level to become leaders within your org.

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And if I could be a resource in any way, and helping you do so, would love to do so. And let’s go ahead. And get to some of these questions that I see in the chat.

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Alright, so chat alright, so

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Let’s go down. I’m gonna try to go in order here, guys.

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Alright. So Gabriel said. What are some of your employment retention strategies in your program?

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So great question.

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So some of the employment retention strategies that come with the program is really, I would honestly say, starts with understanding.

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We. We put a big emphasis on getting to understand the population you’re working with. So for new citizens, understanding the journey that it took for them to even get here. Why, they might have escaped or left some of the circumstances that they were living through and then helping them understand some of the barriers that’s taken place while they’ve been here.

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Same with each and every population. I’m a firm believer in understanding that changes a lot. That’s actually helped me become one of the top. 100 social Ceos in the country. They say. I put people before I put the bottom line.

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Which is true, and it all really has always started with just trying to understand where the individual is coming from.

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So for me, it doesn’t have to be a long initiative around retention. It really comes down to the individuals who have the posts of your organization? Are they understanding of the individuals they’re leading.

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I hope that answers the question, if not, though, feel free to drop it in the chat, and we could dive in a little bit more.

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I’ll go on to the next question. Now that I see here.

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Which is at the entrance. They help save employers money. Can you explain how so, Greg? Yes, how we help employers save money couple of ways.

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We’re able to show how. Excuse me. W. If you utilize Wc. The work opportunity, tax credit. If you pair that along with dol or department of labor funding that can actually pay for.

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On the job training. So a part of you developing team members is on the job traded. When you compare those 2 things as well as the free Federal bonding. We’re able to show employers because will pay for half of an employee’s payroll for a predetermined amount of time. A New York State is usually like 6 months.

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As well as the Wotc tax Credit, which.

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Everyone who goes through my program, for the most part, is eligible for nearly $9,000 in tax savings for organizations. You can buy those 2 things right there.

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Usually end up around 30 to $40,000 worth of savings right there.

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And then, when you start to actually take a deeper dive in the historical hiring practices and retention rates, you start to understand how much money organizations are spending to actually attract new associates. That number can exceed 50 to $60,000 in statements. And so those are just some of the ways we’re able to save organizations money. But it’s really as simple as working with. You know.

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Your your organization helping you guys get set up so you could take advantage of work, opportunity tax credits as well as positioning you guys so you could take advantage of some of the other benefits and rebates that come with working with different departmental services in your area.

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Hopefully. That answers your question, Greg, but if not, feel free to, you know, drop another one in.

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Let’s see, what else do we have here? So the next question that I can see says.

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The majority of second chance employers are warehouse and fast food companies. What does your pro do? Expand on the employer pool that offers a more versatile employment option. That’s a great great question, and it’s true. You see, a lot of these companies that do that, especially warehousing. But what we do is we actually go in and we work with employers, and we build out roadmaps.

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Every single organization should have entry level position for the most part, just like every single.

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Organizations have a CEO executive director, meaning there should be a whole team in between. There.

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And so, because of that, it really shouldn’t matter. The sector that an individual is coming back to work in what it should really matter is, how do we help individuals go from the bottom of this pyramid to the top of the pyramid and identify roadmaps to help individuals get there based upon trainings that are needed to get there, credentials that are needed to get there and then actually working with the population to get those things. And so they can.

00:27:35.000 –> 00:27:37.000

Work their way up to those positions.

00:27:37.000 –> 00:27:41.000

Hopefully. That answers your question.

00:27:41.000 –> 00:27:51.000

The next one that I see here is going to be from. And I’m sorry, guys, every time someone drops something in the chat it like, pushes everything back, down.

00:27:51.000 –> 00:27:55.000

So I see there’s a lot here. So what was the ABC again? ABC.

00:27:55.000 –> 00:27:59.000

Get a job, a better job and then a career.

00:27:59.000 –> 00:28:14.000

That’s the ABC’s Kim Co. Get started with your own business. So after I worked my way up to a general manager, I I started to identify that I was making other companies millions of dollars by seeing the profit and loss.

00:28:14.000 –> 00:28:18.000

Statements every year. I took I took it.

00:28:18.000 –> 00:28:25.000

And I was identifying an opportunity that there was a casino being built in my area. And so I created Transportation Company.

00:28:25.000 –> 00:28:49.000

That would work with the hotel, since that’s all I knew to get individuals to and from the Casino. So that’s how I started, and then it naturally it tris it, it transitioned and evolved. Now we’re community based transportation company. I’ve had contract with Amazon during a last mile logistics and warehousing and you know it just continues to evolve from there. But it all started with an opportunity as well as me.

00:28:49.000 –> 00:28:53.000

Identifying in the career field that I was in opportunities.

00:28:53.000 –> 00:28:55.000

And and utilizing my network.

00:28:55.000 –> 00:29:18.000

Do you assist with tech certificates, trainings in your program? We do. So we focus on Cdl trainings in our program. That’s why so many individuals get Cds, we’re finalizing a partnership where we’re apprenticeship program. So we could continue to do that. I’m also a consultant for the New York State Trucking Association. So I do a lot to get people into that space.

00:29:18.000 –> 00:29:34.000

But then, outside of that, we actually work with organizations to identify partnerships in their area. So that way, they can actually send individuals to get these trainers as a small business, you know we it was hard for us to afford.

00:29:34.000 –> 00:29:46.000

Actually train paying for each person to get trained. So I’ve been able to find unique opportunities and resources out there where individuals can get trained for free or through different

00:29:46.000 –> 00:29:48.000

Government based funding.

00:29:48.000 –> 00:30:02.000

It so? The same thing that I go in, and I help other employers with as well as helping them identify nonprofit organizations and things of that nature in their, in their local areas, who could be resources for what they’re trying to build.

00:30:02.000 –> 00:30:08.000

And then, Xavier, thank you very much. Appreciate it.

00:30:08.000 –> 00:30:10.000

I think that is all of the.

00:30:10.000 –> 00:30:22.000

Questions that I could see. And it looks like it’s 2 30. So it’s kind of right on time. If anybody here has any other questions feel free. I did put my email in the chat.

00:30:22.000 –> 00:30:25.000

Would love to talk with you in more details.

00:30:25.000 –> 00:30:27.000

And

00:30:27.000 –> 00:30:30.000

With that being said, I will hand it over to Kim.

00:30:30.000 –> 00:30:37.000

And allow him to close it out. But thank you guys again for sharing some space with me. I hope I brought some value today.

00:30:37.000 –> 00:31:00.000

Absolutely you did, Trent, and we definitely appreciate you for giving us this information. And again, if you want to share this or review this at a later time it will be available on our Youtube channel. And then I’ll also send a copy of our presentation that we have here today to you all as well. So again, thank you for joining us for our September 30 min of excellence and shred. Thank you so much for being our presenter.

00:31:00.000 –> 00:31:07.000

For today, and everybody have a wonderful rest of your Wednesday.