In honor of Fair Chance Month, also known as Second Chance Month—a nationwide initiative aimed at ensuring that individuals returning from incarceration have meaningful opportunities to rebuild their lives—the San Diego Workforce Partnership (SDWP) is highlighting the urgent need to expand employment opportunities for justice-involved individuals. This effort aligns with California’s Fair Chance Act and San Diego County’s Fair Chance Ordinance (No. 10914 N.S.). It is crucial to engage in conversations with those who have lived experiences, as many of them require more than just a second chance; they need a fair chance. With one in five California residents having a criminal record, the need for comprehensive reintegration support has never been greater.
HIRE Gala
The Workforce Partnership will host its own HIRE Gala, celebrating success stories of the Helping Justice-Involved Reentry Employment (HIRE) Initiative and the community and employer partners that have shaped the program’s impact.
“Fair Chance Month isn’t just about awareness—it’s about giving justice-impacted individuals and families a fair opportunity to live a fulfilled life,” said Dee Dorsey, Director of Population Specific Programs at San Diego Workforce Partnership. “Our HIRE initiative supports restoring dignity, building community, and creating career pathways where too often there have been roadblocks.”
“When we invest in the success of justice-impacted individuals, we create thriving communities, break cycles of poverty, and help keep families together,” said Rachel Bereza, President & CEO of the San Diego Workforce Partnership. “Fair Chance Month is a powerful reminder of the contributions justice-impacted individuals make—and the potential they hold to help shape a San Diego that works for everyone.”
The San Diego Workforce Partnership has led reentry workforce initiatives in the region for over a decade to ensure equitable hiring practices. Through their Reentry Works services, the organization delivers pre- and post-release services including one-on-one coaching, workshops, and job fairs to individuals inside the specialized career centers within the East Mesa Reentry Facility and Las Colinas Detention and Reentry Facility operated by the San Diego County Sheriff’s department. These efforts have led to an average of 80% job placement rate among participants.
In 2023, SDWP expanded this work with a $4.8 million investment from the California Workforce Development Board for Helping Justice-Involved Reentry Employment (HIRE) Initiative. This initiative provides training, reskilling and upskilling, and supportive services to justice-involved individuals to improve employment opportunities and job mobility.
As the regional network hub, SDWP collaborates with San Diego County Probation and Sheriff’s Departments, local employers, and several grassroots organizations known as “spokes” that provide training, reskilling, upskilling, and supportive services for individuals reentering the workforce. They include Always Ready, Lived Experiences, Restoring Citizens, Vehicles for Change, Kitchen’s for Good, Women Initiating Success Envisioned (WISE), Rise Up Industries, and SBCS. Participants learn to tell their own career narratives through tools like the RIASEC framework and Essential Skills Rubric, which strengthen self-awareness, resume development, and interview preparation. Since its launch, the program has delivered more than 100 workshops to over 500 individuals navigating reentry. In the past year, SDWP’s HIRE initiative has made significant progress through its spokes, positively impacting the lives of more than 1,000 justice-impacted individuals and families.
“Through HIRE, I can continue to serve women,” said WISE President & CEO Jackie Reed. “My motto is when you heal the woman, you heal the family. Because that’s what I’m doing, healing families.”
The need to provide formerly incarcerated and justice-involved individuals with a fair chance is pressing. A person with a criminal record is nearly 10 times more likely to experience homelessness, and more than one in four live in poverty. The barriers they face in securing employment, housing, and education create ripple effects for families, neighborhoods, and the broader economy. Locally, the San Diego County Fair Chance Ordinance, enacted in late 2024, supports more equitable hiring by requiring businesses to consider a candidate’s qualifications before their criminal history.
For more than 30 years, SDWP has strengthened San Diego’s workforce development system by using data-driven research, tailored business services, and comprehensive support for job seekers to build a more resilient economy for the region.