Workforce Inc

Causes: Crime & Law, Economic Development, Employment, Employment Preparation & Procurement, Inmate Support, Job Training, Urban & Community Economic Development

Mission: To strengthen central indiana communities by helping local employers build a better workforce.

Programs: Workforce, inc. Focuses on a triple bottom line to measure success: social, environmental, and economic. The mission goals are to employ and train formerly incarcerated individuals, reintegrate those individuals into the community as productive members supporting their families, and to improve the environment through recycling. Recidivism is reduced when a formerly incarcerated individual receives support, training and skills so that entry into society is successful. The national recidivism rate ranges from 45% to 70%. The recidivism rate for workforce, inc. 234 participants in fiscal 2016-2017 was 18%; a significant difference. In addition to the direct benefit to the individual, the program also contributes to public safety, increases tax revenue due to increased employment, increases family support payments such as child support to support their children, reduces the overcrowding in prisons and lessens the drain on the public due to the cost of inmate incarceration and aid to families without wage earners. The workforce, inc. Program is partially funded by revenue generated through the recycling of electronics, metals and plastics. Discarding electronic waste containing lead, mercury, and arsenic into landfills leads to contamination of groundwater and potential serious health problems. Discarding electronic waste creates lasting damage to our environment and the public health. In the most recent year, workforce, inc. Processed over 8 million pounds of electronic waste, which kept it out of the landfills. Workforce inc. Processed 431,000 pounds of circuit boards,820,000 pounds of copper,88,000 pounds of aluminum, 3,600,000 pounds of steel,1,200,000 pounds of plastic and 355,000 pounds of paper/cardboard then sold to local manufacturers so the former waste would be repurposed. 4,700 metric tons of co2 emissions were avoided by workforce, inc. Recycling efforts, which is equivalent to the annual emissions of over 4,500 passenger vehicles. On average, energy used to manufacture goods from recycled materials is 58% less than those made from virgin materials.