News and Events
CEO programs shown to reduce reincarceration by 50% and new crime by 90% – Learning Institute Report, December 2007
People recently released from prison who enroll at CEO have a significantly lower rate of reincarceration one year after joining the program, a recent report by MDRC has found. Less than 10 percent of CEO participants were reincarcerated for any reason – 50 percent less than the control group. Moreover, less than one percent of CEO participants were reincarcerated for a new crime – 90 percent less than the control group. The evaluation notes that impacts of this size in a random assignment criminal justice study are “rare.” The Learning Institute summarized the MDRC report in the CEO Release, December 2007. The CEO Release discusses the initial findings and provides a concise overview, highlighting critical aspects of CEO’s impact.
Read the CEO Release
CEO Academy - Learning that Works
More and more people are returning to communities from prison without the skills to find and keep sustainable jobs, CEO has developed the CEO Academy to bridge the gap between formerly incarcerated individuals and educational opportunities available in trade industries. The CEO Academy offers a clear and compelling path to higher paying meaningful jobs in growing trade occupations that represent fields of interest for those with criminal records who want to permanently turn their lives around.
The CEO Academy is a learning environment to enable formerly incarcerated individuals to meet the entrance requirements and succeed at industry-certified trade training. The industry-certified trade training will enable formerly incarcerated individuals to obtain the skills and experience needed to improve their capacity to find and retain well-paying, skilled-labor jobs – in electrical and plumbing fields.
The CEO Academy is modeled after bridge programs around the country that seek to connect workers with low basic skills to occupational training at community colleges and technical institutes. The goal of the program is to increase students’ math and reading performance, test-taking skills and knowledge of career paths in the targeted sectors so that they can move on to more advanced training at Bronx Community College and selected trade schools. The Academy will raise participants’ academic levels for entrance into trade training by combining literacy and numeracy instruction with information from and about the trades – a contextualized learning approach that works best with adults.
The CEO Academy is designed to improve the long-term employment prospects of formerly incarcerated people. The Academy will serve as a front end to established trade programs in community colleges and elsewhere, building skills that will allow formerly incarcerated people to take advantage of these highly regarded vocational training programs that have until now been inaccessible to them. Creating these opportunities is only part of the Academy’s goals: The CEO Academy will permit CEO to build upon its robust network of employers and its renowned ability to place formerly incarcerated people in full-time employment by creating a cadre of higher skilled workers ready to move to the next level of employment in a meaningful and ongoing way.
The CEO Academy marries best practices in two critical areas of workforce development: providing employment services for formerly incarcerated people and building educational partnerships between community-based organizations and community colleges. By combining these two practices into one comprehensive effort, the CEO Academy will open training opportunities and career pathways that are currently unavailable to most formerly incarcerated people because of skill deficits that have not been addressed.
The CEO Academy will play an important role in the emerging national dialogue around how society can get beyond short-term solutions for formerly incarcerated people returning home from prison and focus on long-term sustainable solutions that rebuild lives, families and communities through career advancement strategies.
CEO Develops Two-Year Business Plan
In developing CEO’s next business plan, CEO looked at the outcomes of CEO’s 2004-2008 Business Plan goals to serve more people, better. Since 2004, CEO has made dramatic increases in job placements and retention total job placements increased by 50% and job retention rates increased 88% for 180 days and 50% for 365 days. Since 2004, CEO also made organizational improvements including: the Learning Institute, a new technology platform, and an increased and diversified funding base. All this will help sustain, share and enhance CEO's work.
Based on these successes, CEO is building a platform for growth. CEO developed a 2009-2010 Business Plan to strengthen the sustainability of its core model and grow its impact on youth in NYC. In addition, the plan will allow CEO to begin leveraging this experience in other parts of the nation to inform CEO’s long-term strategy to significantly impact the lives of the formerly incarcerated. Specifically, CEO plans to:
CEO’s Learning Institute will evaluate the outcomes of these programs and has developed a learning agenda to inform CEO’s long-term, strategic growth.
Click here for the Executive Summary of the 2009-2010 Business Plan
People recently released from prison who enroll at CEO have a significantly lower rate of reincarceration one year after joining the program, a recent report by MDRC has found. Less than 10 percent of CEO participants were reincarcerated for any reason – 50 percent less than the control group. Moreover, less than one percent of CEO participants were reincarcerated for a new crime – 90 percent less than the control group. The evaluation notes that impacts of this size in a random assignment criminal justice study are “rare.” The Learning Institute summarized the MDRC report in the CEO Release, December 2007. The CEO Release discusses the initial findings and provides a concise overview, highlighting critical aspects of CEO’s impact.
Read the CEO Release
CEO Academy - Learning that Works
More and more people are returning to communities from prison without the skills to find and keep sustainable jobs, CEO has developed the CEO Academy to bridge the gap between formerly incarcerated individuals and educational opportunities available in trade industries. The CEO Academy offers a clear and compelling path to higher paying meaningful jobs in growing trade occupations that represent fields of interest for those with criminal records who want to permanently turn their lives around.
The CEO Academy is a learning environment to enable formerly incarcerated individuals to meet the entrance requirements and succeed at industry-certified trade training. The industry-certified trade training will enable formerly incarcerated individuals to obtain the skills and experience needed to improve their capacity to find and retain well-paying, skilled-labor jobs – in electrical and plumbing fields.
The CEO Academy is modeled after bridge programs around the country that seek to connect workers with low basic skills to occupational training at community colleges and technical institutes. The goal of the program is to increase students’ math and reading performance, test-taking skills and knowledge of career paths in the targeted sectors so that they can move on to more advanced training at Bronx Community College and selected trade schools. The Academy will raise participants’ academic levels for entrance into trade training by combining literacy and numeracy instruction with information from and about the trades – a contextualized learning approach that works best with adults.
The CEO Academy is designed to improve the long-term employment prospects of formerly incarcerated people. The Academy will serve as a front end to established trade programs in community colleges and elsewhere, building skills that will allow formerly incarcerated people to take advantage of these highly regarded vocational training programs that have until now been inaccessible to them. Creating these opportunities is only part of the Academy’s goals: The CEO Academy will permit CEO to build upon its robust network of employers and its renowned ability to place formerly incarcerated people in full-time employment by creating a cadre of higher skilled workers ready to move to the next level of employment in a meaningful and ongoing way.
The CEO Academy marries best practices in two critical areas of workforce development: providing employment services for formerly incarcerated people and building educational partnerships between community-based organizations and community colleges. By combining these two practices into one comprehensive effort, the CEO Academy will open training opportunities and career pathways that are currently unavailable to most formerly incarcerated people because of skill deficits that have not been addressed.
The CEO Academy will play an important role in the emerging national dialogue around how society can get beyond short-term solutions for formerly incarcerated people returning home from prison and focus on long-term sustainable solutions that rebuild lives, families and communities through career advancement strategies.
CEO Develops Two-Year Business Plan
In developing CEO’s next business plan, CEO looked at the outcomes of CEO’s 2004-2008 Business Plan goals to serve more people, better. Since 2004, CEO has made dramatic increases in job placements and retention total job placements increased by 50% and job retention rates increased 88% for 180 days and 50% for 365 days. Since 2004, CEO also made organizational improvements including: the Learning Institute, a new technology platform, and an increased and diversified funding base. All this will help sustain, share and enhance CEO's work.
Based on these successes, CEO is building a platform for growth. CEO developed a 2009-2010 Business Plan to strengthen the sustainability of its core model and grow its impact on youth in NYC. In addition, the plan will allow CEO to begin leveraging this experience in other parts of the nation to inform CEO’s long-term strategy to significantly impact the lives of the formerly incarcerated. Specifically, CEO plans to:
- Increase the number of youth served by one-third
- Increase retention outcomes
- Strengthen economics of core model
- Develop a new community-based presence outside of Manhattan and expand transitional jobs operations outside New York City
- Develop a CEO Academy to build trade skills & advances wages
- Increase CEO's national leadership
CEO’s Learning Institute will evaluate the outcomes of these programs and has developed a learning agenda to inform CEO’s long-term, strategic growth.
Click here for the Executive Summary of the 2009-2010 Business Plan
"Effects on these measures are rarely seen in rigorous evaluations."
- MDRC