CENTER FOR EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES (NY)

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Program Description
The Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO) was created in the late 1970s by the Vera Institute of Justice to respond to the employment needs of recently released prisoners. Since 1996, CEO has been an independent nonprofit agency that provides a highly structured set of employment services to former prisoners. CEO serves about 1,800 non-violent felony offenders who are on parole, probation, or work release in New York City. The majority of CEO clients are men (90 percent) in their mid-twenties (90 percent); many have children and families they hope to support upon release.

The CEO program involves seven structured steps to sustainable employment: job readiness training, meeting with a job counselor, paid transitional employment, job development, job placement, postplacement services and support services. Each participant begins the process by completing an orientation, an intensive four-day Life Skills training workshop, and an initial meeting with a job counselor for an in-depth skills assessment. Participants are then put to work immediately on day-labor work crews.

The crews, paid for by city and state agencies, involve a variety of assignments including providing custodial services to government buildings, maintaining nature trails, painting classrooms, and cleaning up roadways. The program pays crew members at the end of each work day. While the participants are employed through this program, they continue to work with CEO staff on job development and placement in a longer-term position. CEO specializes in finding jobs in customer service, food industries, manufacturing, office support, and semi-skilled trades. CEO also provides a range of post-placement support services for a minimum of 12 months.

Program Goals
CEO's goal is to provide immediate, comprehensive, and effective employment services for men and women returning from prison and other former offenders under community supervision in New York City.

Networking, Partnering & Collaboration
CEO has developed an expansive employment network with government agencies and a number of private sector employers, having placed participants in over 300 area businesses and organizations. What is unique about the financial structure of CEO is that the program is 90 percent supported by the revenue it generates from the agencies for which it conducts work. The remaining funds are obtained primarily from government funding sources, including state and local criminal justice agencies and, increasingly,
workforce development agencies.

Outcomes
CEO places 65 to 70 percent of its graduates in full-time jobs within three months. About threequarters of placed participants were still working after one month; and 60 percent were still on the job after three months. The average hourly wage of placed participants is higher than the minimum wage. Nearly two-thirds of the positions offered full benefits.

In terms of recidivism outcomes, a 1997 study by the Vera Institute found that only 21 percent of all enrollees (whether they were with CEO for one day or one year) were reincarcerated within three years; only 15 percent of enrollees that CEO placed in jobs were reincarcerated within three years.

Additional Reading

• Mindy Tarlow. 2001. “Applying Lessons Learned from Relapse Prevention to Job Retention Strategies for Hard-to-Employ Ex-Offenders.” Offender Employment Report, December/January. New York: Center for Employment Opportunities. http://www.ceoworks.org/CEO_MTArticle010802.pdf

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