Formerly incarcerated job seekers face not only a stigma, but also a five-times-higher unemployment rate. A new startup aims to create meaningful employment after incarceration.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, each prisoner costs taxpayers about $35,000 a year to house, to the tune of more than $80 billion a year — to say nothing of the economic hardship faced by families with a loved one in jail, the ripple effect on communities and the well-documented racial disparities permeating through the criminal justice system.
Nationally ranked startup accelerator gener8tor has also expanded its focus over the last several years, casting a wider net to include artists, musicians and social impact entrepreneurs. After examining startup solutions to mass incarceration and recidivism, gener8tor teamed up with The Institute to expand social impact programming this May, announcing six gALPHA and two gBETA Social Impact cohorts focused on criminal justice and equity in education.