A partnership in the Pitt County area won a $125,000 grant to support a program to help formerly incarcerated people enter the workforce.
The grant recipient, “Keeping It REEL,” will train formerly incarcerated to meet reentry challenges to build careers and potentially start their own businesses, Gov. Roy Cooper announced.
The two-year implementation grant comes from the NCWorks Local Innovation Fund, which Cooper established as part of the NC Job Ready initiative to prepare North Carolina’s workforce.
“When we give North Carolinians a second chance and help them transition to new opportunities, we make our communities safer, while also meeting business’ needs for skilled workers,” Cooper said. “I applaud these grant recipients for their creative approaches to hiring that are a model for North Carolina and the country.”
REEL stands for Re-Entry Entrepreneurship and work-based Learning. Partners in “Keeping it REEL” will include the Rivers East Workforce Development Board and the local NCWorks Career Centers overseen by the board, Pitt County Reentry Council, Pitt Community College, the East Carolina University Crisp Small Business Resource Center and NC IDEA.
Keeping it REEL will combine life skills, occupational skills and entrepreneurship training, work-based learning, coaching and mentoring, Cooper’s office said. The partnership plans to provide participants with up to 480 hours of paid work experience, in a manner similar to an internship, at participating employers.
The participant gains experience and earns income while the employer fills a key role in their organization at no cost.
Participants also will learn about entrepreneurship and how to develop a business plan, giving them the ability to build their own future, putting individuals who complete the program in a position to potentially hire other individuals reentering the workforce.
Increasing the number of second-chance employers is among North Carolina’s “Reentry2030” initiative goals, Cooper announced earlier this year.
The Local Innovation Fund is an initiative of the NCWorks Commission, the state workforce development board, while the Division of Workforce Solutions within the N.C. Department of Commerce helps administer the fund.
“Investing in the people of North Carolina and supporting their aspirations to become entrepreneurs will strengthen our economy,” said N.C. Commerce Secretary Machelle Baker Sanders, who is also a member of the NCWorks Commission. “We have prioritized both reentry and work-based learning at the Department of Commerce, and we are excited to see this partnership join the many innovative workforce programs moving forward across our state.”
The NC Job Ready workforce initiative is built on three core principles: skills and education attainment so North Carolinians are ready for jobs available now and in the future, employer leadership to remain relevant to evolving industry needs, and local innovation to take great ideas and apply them statewide.
The source of funding for the grant is the State Fiscal Recovery Fund, a component of the federal American Rescue Plan Act that provided $5.4 billion to North Carolina to help turn the tide on the pandemic, address its economic fallout, and lay the foundation for a strong and equitable recovery.
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