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At 64, Kim knows the importance of getting another chance in life, and he’ll do anything not to squander it. After spending nearly two decades behind bars, the father of three girls recalls the feeling he had when coming home to his family and a brave new world.

Growing up in Detroit, George remembers his mother getting on the city bus to go to her job downtown and telling him that he could build something better. “My mom would tell me I could be somebody,” George says. “She believed that.” Having only met his father twice, it fell on George’s mother to raise him and his three siblings, and his grandparents, who worked for Detroit public schools. They would always stress that an education is the most important thing to have in life.

For Ahmad, Ramadan is not a break from life, it’s a time to sharpen it. As a member of the Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO) Emerging Leaders Program (ELP), Ahmad approaches this Ramadan season the same way he approaches his personal growth: intentionally, critically, and with an expectation of producing positive results. He is justice-impacted and grounded in the teachings of Islam, focused on becoming better each year than he was the year before.

When Daniel came home from prison, he thought his decades of experience in behavioral health and his advanced education would help him land on his feet. Instead, he found himself facing a wall that far too many reentering society knows well: employers who won’t look past a criminal record, no matter how qualified the applicant may be.

On the first day of Ramadan, as Muslims around the world begin a month of fasting and reflection, Linwood is thinking about gratitude, growth, and accountability. Currently, as the Senior Site Supervisor for the Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO) in Philadelphia, he leads people who are navigating reentry after incarceration. He is also justice-impacted. And he is Muslim. For Linwood, those identities are interconnected and shape his perspective on life.

Alex always loved working on cars. As a young man in Colorado Springs, he worked as a mechanic right after high school. He became so good at the job that he was soon working for several major dealerships around the city.

When Alberto completed the program at the Center for Employment Opportunities in Denver, he wanted to give something back to the people he had been working alongside for months. He knew they needed clothes to get through the coming winter, so he started a clothing drive.

When Jennifer was released from prison in Michigan at age 38, she came home without financial support, carrying grief, stigma, and the immediate pressure to survive. Jennifer was born and raised in Michigan, the oldest of three children. Her childhood was shaped by instability.

When Adam walked out of prison on January 8, 2020, he was returning to a world that looked very different from the one he left. He was 49 years old, coming home to Michigan with determination, preparation, and one critical thing many people leaving prison do not have: ability to meet basic needs.

When employers automatically disqualify candidates based on past justice involvement, they are reinforcing systemic barriers to financial stability and economic mobility. These decisions shape who is able to secure meaningful work, support their families, and build a stable future.

Devon learned early that leadership isn’t about being the loudest voice in the room, it’s about how you show up for people when no one is watching.

My name is John, and this is a glimpse into my first day out of prison. It began as I got off the prison van and boarded the Bustang bus to Denver. This first step was bittersweet. Even though I was free, I did not feel that way. Wearing DOC-provided clothes and stepping onto that bus with all my property, I felt like I was in a long-range extension of the prison system. I felt a melancholic indifference to my newly gained situation, and more than that, I felt pressure. The pressure of responsibility.