Center for Employment Opportunities, Inc.

Programs: Transitional work program - immediate work for immediate paythrough its transitional work program, ceo provides immediate, time-limited, paid employment for people with recent criminal convictions. Ceo places almost no restrictions on enrollment in its program, which begins with a five-day, customized life skills education course that prepares individuals for re-entry into the workforce. Because most participants either have never held a full-time job or have been disconnected from the job market for an extended period of time, ceo staff uses these interactive classroom sessions to reinforce basic workplace skills such as punctuality, good personal presentation, and cooperation with supervisors and co-workers. Participants practice filling out job applications and learn how best to address questions about their convictions in interviews. Ceo staff also helps them procure all necessary identification documents, removing a frequent barrier that prevents re-entrants from legally stepping onto a job site and receiving a paycheck. After graduating from life skills, participants move immediately into jobs on ceo work crews, where they perform maintenance, repair, grounds keeping, and comparable services for institutional clients. Clients' payment for this work supports ceo's operations and enables the agency to make over 400 work slots available to participants every day. On the worksite, participants, closely guided by ceo site supervisors, model the behaviors employers say they value most: showing up on time, taking direction from a supervisor, working hard, being good co-workers, and using good communication skills. Participants are paid each work day and stay on transitional jobs for an average of two months before being placed in full time jobs. This setting emphasizes progress and momentum; clients support one another and gain motivation from each others successes. In fy 2014, ceo provided transitional employment to over 4,000 formerly incarcerated individuals in new york city; albany, binghamton, buffalo and rochester, ny; tulsa and oklahoma city, ok; and, oakland, san bernardino and san diego, ca.

job placement and retention - getting and keeping a place in the permanent workforce ceo places participants in full-time employment by working with hundreds of employers to fill their hiring needs. Since becoming an independent nonprofit organization in 1996, ceo has created thousands of transitional job opportunities that have led to over 18,000 full-time job placements for formerly incarcerated individuals. In fy 2014, ceo employment services resulted in 2,059 full-time job placements in industries and sectors as diverse as food service, retail/wholesale, manufacturing, human services, construction, maintenance, and warehousing. To ensure participants remain in the workforce once they are employed, ceo retention specialists provide workplace counseling, crisis management, job re-development in the event of job loss, and long-term career planning for one full year after placement. Additionally, an incentive-based job retention program, rapid rewards, provides monthly payments to all participants who sign up for the program and attain specified employment milestones. Of participants placed in full-time jobs within the prior year, just under 53 percent of were still working after 180 days, and 42. 8 percent were working after 365 days. Ceo uses the most rigorous verification methods to determine job retention - paystubs, criminal justice official sign-off, or independent verification with employers. Ceo does not accept self reported information for job placement or job retention.

during fiscal year 2014, ceo san bernardino successfully cultivated training opportunities for participants as a means to potential wage growth and a viable career path in the high-demand logistics sector. Ceo participants completed forklift certifications and were successfully placed in training-related full-time jobs, a majority at local warehouses. Ceos contract for this project is through the san bernardino community college district (sbccd). This partnership has opened up tremendous opportunities for ceo participants to access advanced job training through the college.