Improving an Employment Service With a Former Prisoner’s Feedback


When Betty McCay finished a 27-year prison sentence, she was 63 and needed help finding work. The Oakland, California, chapter of the Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO), an organization that helps formerly incarcerated people find jobs, got her a position picking up trash on California highways. CEO sends texts to its clients to solicit their feedback about the program, but McCay was skeptical that the organization really wanted her opinion. “In prison,” she said, “feedback isn’t necessary. Feedback isn’t sought.”