{"id":29860,"date":"2017-01-19T10:00:33","date_gmt":"2017-01-19T15:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/?p=29860"},"modified":"2021-04-26T14:48:11","modified_gmt":"2021-04-26T18:48:11","slug":"entrepreneurship-provides-new-hope-former-prisoners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/entrepreneurship-provides-new-hope-former-prisoners\/","title":{"rendered":"Entrepreneurship Provides New Hope for Former Prisoners"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.justsoulcatering.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-29863\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn1.thestoryexchange.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/22232015\/14051779_1785024868380002_4228727042563918342_n-525x700.jpg\" alt=\"Sharon Richardson of Just Soul Catering\" width=\"400\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn1.thestoryexchange.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/22232015\/14051779_1785024868380002_4228727042563918342_n-525x700.jpg 525w, https:\/\/cdn1.thestoryexchange.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/22232015\/14051779_1785024868380002_4228727042563918342_n-576x768.jpg 576w, https:\/\/cdn1.thestoryexchange.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/22232015\/14051779_1785024868380002_4228727042563918342_n-100x133.jpg 100w, https:\/\/cdn1.thestoryexchange.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/22232015\/14051779_1785024868380002_4228727042563918342_n.jpg 720w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Today, Sharon Richardson is creating the possibility of love and abundance.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>In 2015, she\u00a0founded her Brooklyn social enterprise, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.justsoulcatering.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Just Soul Catering<\/a>, which cooks Southern specialties like collard greens, mac n\u2019 cheese and fried chicken and delivers them to events around New York City. Not only has the business become the bedrock on which Richardson is creating economic opportunity for herself, she is also hiring other formerly incarcerated women to staff her events.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe cook our food with a lot of love, and we serve the community,\u201d says Richardson, a domestic violence survivor who was released from prison in 2010, after serving 20 years for killing her abusive boyfriend. She is building Just Soul Catering with Chandeerah Davis, an activist and the daughter of a man who is currently serving a 35-year sentence.<\/p>\n<p>Healing has been at the heart of the enterprise since the women started dreaming it up, Richardson says. \u201cWe talked about the recipes of our grandparents and how food brought everyone together on their worst day.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Just Soul Catering is a part-time venture &#8212; for now anyway. Richardson and Davis both work full-time at the New York City nonprofit <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.egscf.org\/programs\/steps\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">STEPS to End Family Violence<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and Richardson is the founder of <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.reentryrocks.org\/about.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Reentry Rocks<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, her own nonprofit for formerly incarcerated women with histories of domestic violence and trauma. But Richardson has a vision: She wants to link Just Soul to Reentry Rocks, launch\u00a0a culinary school to train Just Soul employees, add\u00a0a food truck and open a cafe in\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/womensbuildingnyc.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Women&#8217;s Building<\/a>, which is being created\u00a0in\u00a0a former jail.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI see myself today as a motivational speaker, a teacher and inspired leader, as a mentor, a mom, a grandmother and as a women who\u2019s empowered,\u201d she says. Richardson has remade her life and is now giving out second chances. \u201cMy story is a gift to give people.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Richardson\u2019s rebirth as the CEO of Just Soul Catering began with training and mentoring from <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/defyventures.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Defy Ventures<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, a New York nonprofit that runs an entrepreneurship program for currently and formerly incarcerated men and women. In June 2016, she won $10,000 in Defy\u2019s \u201cShark Tank\u201d-style Capital Call Competition.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Defy is just one of a growing number of organizations around the country that are helping formerly incarcerated women and men pursue business ownership in an effort to expand economic opportunity for a group that struggles to secure jobs.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And now, their movement is getting a shot in the arm from the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). In 2016, it launched the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sba.gov\/about-sba\/sba-newsroom\/press-releases-media-advisories\/sba-partners-wk-kellogg-foundation-justine-petersen-launch-21-million-entrepreneurship-training-and?utm_medium=email&amp;utm_source=govdelivery\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Aspire Entrepreneurship Initiative<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> with microlender <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.justinepetersen.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Justine Petersen<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wkkf.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">W.K. Kellogg Foundation<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, a 3-year, $2.1 million pilot program to educate and facilitate business ownership for formerly incarcerated parents in four cities. And just last month, the SBA announced a related program to support other entrepreneurship initiatives for the formerly incarcerated: the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/content.govdelivery.com\/accounts\/USSBA\/bulletins\/17cf208\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Aspire Challenge<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, which will disburse $1.2 million in grants to organizations.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>An Economic Imperative<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This effort is vital, advocates say, in the age of <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/sentencingproject.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Trends-in-US-Corrections.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">mass<\/span><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.prisonpolicy.org\/reports\/pie2016.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">incarceration<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. More than <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.prisonpolicy.org\/reports\/pie2016.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">2.3 million<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> people are in jail in the U.S., and some <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bjs.gov\/content\/pub\/pdf\/p15_sum.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">640,000<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> people return to society from prison each year. According to a survey conducted for <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/whopaysreport.org\/key-findings\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ella Baker<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Center for Human Rights, a staggering 67 percent of former inmates are either unemployed or underemployed 5 years after their release, a sobering statistic given that employment is strongly associated with <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.realclearpolitics.com\/articles\/2015\/06\/11\/immediate_access_to_employment_reduces_recidivism_126939.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">reduced recidivism<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_29865\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-29865\" style=\"width: 525px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-29865\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn1.thestoryexchange.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/22232013\/Christine-pitch-525x394.jpg\" alt=\"A participant in Building Entrepreneurs For Success in Tennessee makes her pitch.\" width=\"525\" height=\"394\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn1.thestoryexchange.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/22232013\/Christine-pitch-525x394.jpg 525w, https:\/\/cdn1.thestoryexchange.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/22232013\/Christine-pitch-100x75.jpg 100w, https:\/\/cdn1.thestoryexchange.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/22232013\/Christine-pitch.jpg 540w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 525px) 100vw, 525px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-29865\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A participant in Building Entrepreneurs For Success in Tennessee makes her pitch.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Though women are only 7 percent of the state and federal prison population, their number has jumped fourteen-fold since 1970 \u2014 from 8,000 to 110,000 \u2014 compared to a four-fold increase for men, according to the <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/trends.vera.org\/gender?data=female&amp;year=2014\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Vera Project<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. This makes helping formerly incarcerated women find economic opportunity a growing imperative. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Proponents of entrepreneurship programs say former inmates have a lot in common with successful entrepreneurs &#8212; they hustle, think outside of the box and are determined and resilient. Indeed, some have run thriving criminal enterprises. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThat creative hustle, when applied appropriately, is what makes a person successful in any realm. If we can apply that in a legitimate way, that is positive and productive,\u201d says Tameka Montgomery, associate administrator for the SBA&#8217;s Office of Entrepreneurial Development. \u201cThe goal is to make [entrepreneurship] more accessible.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Of course, the formerly incarcerated face an array of daunting challenges in starting legitimate businesses, starting with criminal records and including low levels of education, underdeveloped business \u201csoft skills,\u201d often crippled self-confidence and little if any personal savings to start or grow companies. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For women, a return to full-time caretaker roles of children can be both an additional challenge and extra motivation to make a success of an entrepreneurship opportunity, says Karen Vander Molen, co-founder of <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ec.co\/best\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Building Entrepreneurs For Success in Tennessee<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (BEST), whose 2015 and 2016 entrepreneur cohorts have been all-women. Women also tend to be more willing to take on the painful personal work of overcoming their pasts, which are often scarred by sexual abuse, violence and drug addiction, she says, and remake their lives.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Program directors like Vander Molen say the many challenges mean that to be successful entrepreneurship initiatives must be intensive, high-touch efforts that address the array of problems the formerly incarcerated face. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The grandfather of these initiatives is the 13-year-old <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.pep.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Prison Entrepreneurship Program<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in Texas, which only works only with men and was founded by Catherine Hoke, who also founded Defy Ventures. It is perhaps the most intense program of them all &#8212; and it has an impressive success record to show for it. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">PEP has a highly selective application process and begins working with participants well before their release from prison. It also facilitates post-release transitional housing and employment, so participants can create a steady foundation before they ever start businesses. By the end of 2015, PEP graduates had started more than 200 companies, half of which have at least one other employee and six that generate more than $1 million in annual revenue. It has helped some of these businesses secure funding, including loans via the socially minded <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kiva.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Kiva<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/peoplefund.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">PeopleFund<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Graduates have an exceptionally low recidivism rate of less than 7 percent 3 years after release, compared to a national average of nearly 50 percent.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-29864\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn1.thestoryexchange.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/22232014\/Mary-and-Kelly-hug-525x394.jpg\" alt=\"Building Entrepreneurs For Success in Tennessee\" width=\"525\" height=\"394\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn1.thestoryexchange.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/22232014\/Mary-and-Kelly-hug-525x394.jpg 525w, https:\/\/cdn1.thestoryexchange.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/22232014\/Mary-and-Kelly-hug-100x75.jpg 100w, https:\/\/cdn1.thestoryexchange.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/22232014\/Mary-and-Kelly-hug.jpg 534w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 525px) 100vw, 525px\" \/>\u201cStarting any business is hard,\u201d says PEP\u2019s CEO, Bert Smith. Add to that the challenges of returning from prison, and \u201cthat takes it up a notch, wow.\u201d Teaching the men what it takes to run businesses also makes them more employable, he says. \u201cWe don\u2019t aggressively push our guys to start a business as fast as they can. What we\u2019re interested in is their long-term success.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Restoring Dignity, Healing Rifts<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">BEST, which is just over 2 years old, is looking to replicate PEP\u2019s results with Tennessee women, and uses PEP as a model. It runs a 6-month program that begins with an educational effort inside prison that includes guest speakers, the Toastmasters public-speaking program and even Stephen R. Covey&#8217;s \u201cThe 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.\u201d <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Participants have worked on business plans for a beauty salon, gift-basket service, designer-clothes thrift store and event-planning company as well as food trucks and cleaning services, Vander Molen says. Only five women have left prison so far. None have launched businesses yet, but all have found jobs within a month.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Helping the formerly incarcerated get back on their feet and pursue business ownership brings many benefits. \u201cThey\u2019re a citizen again. Let\u2019s get real. We either allow them to restore the dignity in their lives, or we continue to beat them down,\u201d Vander Molen says. Helping them to earn decent, honest livings and be contributions in the world, \u201cit\u2019s a win-win for them and society as a whole.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">June Lee found that kind of restoration through a Northern California program called <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/projectremade.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Project ReMADE<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that\u2019s run out of the Stanford Law School. Co-founded by Angela McCray, a former law student now corporate lawyer at Gunderson Dettmer, and Debbie Mukamal, executive director of the Stanford Criminal Justice Center, the program is led largely by a rotating cast of law and business students, who teach participants and mentor them together with Silicon Valley executive volunteers.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When Lee joined Project ReMADE\u2019s first, all-woman class in 2012, she admits\u00a0she was scared. She had been released from prison in 2010, after serving 20 years for attempted murder and robbery. Behind bars, she learned to read, and finally earned her GED in 2008. There, she also made and sold sold crafts, which won her consistent praise and allowed her to leave prison with $400 in after-tax profits.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When Lee heard about the program, \u201cmy first instinct was, oh no, not Stanford, because there\u2019s such incredibly smart people there,\u201d she says. But then she thought, \u201c\u2018June, you fought to hard to have your freedom back, and you can do it.\u2019\u2026 I knew it was a good fit for me, because I always wanted to start my own business.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lee\u2019s mentors helped her create a business plan for an accessories company, come up with the name Leo Designs SF and design a logo. But most importantly, \u201cit brought people into my life\u2026 It brought up a confidence in me,\u201d she says. \u201cWhen I question myself, my talents, my products, I remember the big things and the little things that people [there] said to me.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_29874\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-29874\" style=\"width: 525px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-29874\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn1.thestoryexchange.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/22232007\/DebbieJune-525x349.jpg\" alt=\"Debbie Mukamal, left, looks over some of the leather bracelets designed by June Lee.\" width=\"525\" height=\"349\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn1.thestoryexchange.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/22232007\/DebbieJune-525x349.jpg 525w, https:\/\/cdn1.thestoryexchange.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/22232007\/DebbieJune-768x510.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn1.thestoryexchange.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/22232007\/DebbieJune-1024x680.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cdn1.thestoryexchange.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/22232007\/DebbieJune-100x66.jpg 100w, https:\/\/cdn1.thestoryexchange.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/22232007\/DebbieJune-862x573.jpg 862w, https:\/\/cdn1.thestoryexchange.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/22232007\/DebbieJune-1200x797.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/cdn1.thestoryexchange.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/22232007\/DebbieJune-846x562.jpg 846w, https:\/\/cdn1.thestoryexchange.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/22232007\/DebbieJune-1184x787.jpg 1184w, https:\/\/cdn1.thestoryexchange.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/22232007\/DebbieJune-1065x708.jpg 1065w, https:\/\/cdn1.thestoryexchange.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/22232007\/DebbieJune-1500x997.jpg 1500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 525px) 100vw, 525px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-29874\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Debbie Mukamal, left, looks over some of the leather bracelets designed by June Lee.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Today, Lee makes handcrafted purses, wallets and bracelets from old leather and unconventional materials out of an Oakland artist and maker space called <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.qulturecollective.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Qulture Collective<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and she sells them through its retail shop. Leo Designs SF remains a part-time venture &#8212; Lee has a full-time house painter job with benefits &#8212; but she is mulling taking on a full-time role at the Qulture Collective boutique or opening her own store and studio.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI\u2019m just surrounding myself with some great entrepreneurial women\u201d and moving forward slowly. \u201cIf people are looking for solutions and to live a productive life, you will find that,\u201d she says. \u201cI believe in everybody\u2019s lives there are difficulties.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Aspiring for More<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The SBA wants to make sure many more women like June Lee are able to create constructive lives. Its new Aspire Entrepreneurship Initiative is just getting off the ground with pilot programs in Chicago, Detroit, St. Louis and Louisville, Ky., that offer training and the opportunity to access SBA-backed microloans. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The pilot launched in St. Louis in December with an all-male class &#8212; by chance, not design. Justine Petersen, the social-mission-driven microlending company that will deliver the training and make the loans, says it will recruit an exclusively female second class in the city and ensure that the other pilot cities host co-ed classes.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">All applicants must have jobs that provide a regular income and the ability to repay loans. The Kellogg Foundation, which is providing most of the funding for the program, focuses its philanthropy on children and is keen to use this program to stabilize families. As such, applicants must also have children aged 8 or younger. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The participants so far are optimistic, passionate and chomping at the bit to get their businesses off the ground, says Galen Gondolfi, a spokesperson for Justine Petersen. Some are \u201cstruggling with having to start small and build,\u201d he says. \u201cThey believe their business can be successful\u201d and want to become employers.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cOne thing different about this program is there\u2019s real money to lend,\u201d Gondolfi says. \u201cThere\u2019s no shortage of entrepreneurship curricula out there. What there is is a shortage of is capital.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While many of the other entrepreneurship programs believe that developing social and business skills is most important, it\u2019s true that access to capital can be particularly difficult for the formerly incarcerated. They often lack personal savings and may not have family and friends who are able or willing to help them fund a start up. <\/span><\/p>\n<p>By demonstrating success with the pilot, the organization thinks it can woo more funders to the microlending cause, Gondolfi says. It also hopes to expand to more cities with additional support from the SBA; it plans to compete for dollars in the agency\u2019s upcoming Aspire Challenge. \u201cWe\u2019re hoping to do significant lending,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>For its part, the SBA wants to help entrepreneurially minded returnees from prison provide for themselves and their families by giving them \u201ctools so they can create a job for themselves,\u201d Montgomery says. It\u2019s about second chances, strong and whole communities and, she says, the imperative that we \u201censure all Americans have access to opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Programs to teach and facilitate business ownership are springing up around the U.S. in a bid to expand economic opportunity for women leaving prison.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":91,"featured_media":29874,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"autoblue_enabled":false,"autoblue_custom_message":"","autoblue_shares":[],"autoblue_post_url":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[187,73],"tags":[21542,19839,19687],"class_list":["post-29860","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-happening-now","tag-reentry-programs","tag-social-enterprise","tag-women-entrepreneurship"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO 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