CEO | San Jose

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Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO) launched its’ San Jose site in 2017. CEO San Jose has offered immediate, effective, and comprehensive employment services exclusively to individuals who have recently returned home from incarceration. CEO’s program supports participants in gaining the workplace skills and confidence needed for successful transitions to stable, productive lives.

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CEO Updates:

Read the story

May 16, 2025

NBC Telemundo 48

Program helps people leaving prison in San José with jobs

The Center for Employment Opportunities' (CEO) transition team seeks to help people in San José returning home after serving time in prison. "For people on parole or probation, the program helps them find work while they go to clean the highways," explained Fernando Hurtado, supervisor.

February 24, 2022

The Guardian

California gives people leaving prison just $200 to start over. After 50 years, that could change

A California lawmaker wants to increase the allowance that people released from prison receive to cover basic needs for the first time in nearly 50 years.

July 7, 2021

SiliconValley.com

Opinion: Addressing biases and barriers can help solve worker shortage

Employers across California are asking, “Where can we find workers?” The truth is that many hundreds of thousands of Californians are locked out of opportunity. And it doesn’t have to be that way. Many of our state’s most pressing economic challenges are the consequence of inaction. In this case, more than 55,000 Californians come home from incarceration each year and, without jobs or other options, about 50 percent go back to prison within three years.

August 6, 2025

Tiffany Elder

Growing Up Locked Down: Arthur’s Return to the Real World

The streets of Oakland, California, moved fast, especially for a boy like Arthur. Raised in a lively neighborhood filled with street football games, water balloon fights, and sweet trips to the local candy lady’s house, Arthur grew up surrounded by both joy and survival. It was a vibrant world, but one shaped by hardship. “The fast life catches up to you,” he reflects. “And sometimes, when your family is struggling, you feel like you don’t have a choice but to provide, however you can.”

July 15, 2025

Ryan M. Moser

Darren’s Redemption: It’s Never Too Late to Change Your Life

When Darren walked out of prison five years ago, he carried little more than some paperwork and the will to survive. At 50 years old, he had spent most of his adult life in and out of the criminal justice system, but this time was different. Released during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Darren was sober, focused, and ready to rebuild from the ground up.

October 31, 2023

Emily Montgomery

Chris finds security in earning CDL: “That means everything to me”

It’s been a year of accomplishments for Chris, a former participant at the San Jose office of the Center for Employment Opportunity (CEO). He has not only completed a year of employment post-incarceration, but he also earned his Commercial Drivers License (CDL) this spring.

January 12, 2022

Eric Borsuk

Aaron’s Story: From prison to business owner

Growing up surrounded by street gangs in Northern California’s East Bay, Aaron says that he always expected to end up in prison one day, and unfortunately, his fears eventually became a reality. However, after his incarceration, Aaron says that his mindset about life had changed.

April 29, 2021

Chase DiFeliciantonio

Google, nonprofits to expand training for previously incarcerated people in Bay Area

Google plans to expand a program to help formerly incarcerated people receive job training and skills, pegged to a White House effort aimed at helping people stay out of prison and jail.