Defy Ventures does seven-month training programs inside prisons to create “entrepreneurs in training,” Huynh said. The point isn’t to launch a bunch of start-ups, he said, but to teach lessons in grit, resilience and pivoting to new opportunities. “We’re not breeding complainers, these are problem-solvers,” he said.Father Gregory Boyle’s enterprise has helped thousands of gang members build new lives. But it still has trouble making ends meet.
Jeong, Rodriguez and Huynh, who spent 22 years behind bars for a murder he committed when he was 21, said one issue for this group is learning how to convey to potential employers the value of the professional and interpersonal skills they learned behind bars. While they may not have a lot of traditional job experience, Jeong said, many have held multiple jobs while incarcerated. “In addition to that,” she said, “I think a lot of them have done a lot of work on themselves.
Even when employers follow the law, formerly incarcerated people may have gaps in their resumes that make it harder for them to stand out from competing job-seekers. And they know employers will ask them to explain the gap, which presents a dilemma, Rodriguez said — to be forthcoming or to keep silent about the time spent incarcerated? “It feels like you’re on trial again, even though you’re technically not,” he said.
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