19 Making the Most of Second Chances with Guest Shelly Jacobs

The Missouri Department of Corrections’ reentry program is equipping returning citizens with career credentials, barrier removal supports, and the WorkKeys NCRC. Reentry Coordinator Shelly Jacobs joins us to share the impact on their workforce.

As employers across the nation are expanding their outreach efforts in search of a dedicated workforce, the Missouri Department of Corrections (DOC) has developed new ways to prepare returning citizens for steady employment upon release. Since implementing the reentry program two years ago, Missouri’s prison population has decreased by 7,000 individuals—a shift that Shelly Jacobs, a reentry coordinator with the Missouri DOC, believes is an encouraging sign for the future. 

With approximately 19,000 men and women released from prison each year in the state of Missouri, reentry programs are vital to building up credentials and reinforcing basic skills. Administering ACT® WorkKeys® Assessments and giving them the chance to earn their ACT® WorkKeys® National Career Readiness Certificate® (NCRC®), says Jacobs, is the best way to represent the prison population as a viable workforce opportunity.  

“These men and women have got the skills,” Jacobs shares. “They just need that second chance. So the NCRC is proof to these employers that these people do have basic skills that, really, can be valuable in any position, regardless of the position.” 

Join us as we learn more about the exciting ways that prison reentry programs are changing today’s economic landscape, and how Missouri’s prison population may yet be the next professional development network.  

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Missouri Department of Corrections: Twitter and Facebook

Jasen Jones Twitter:  @JasenCJones

ACT Twitter: @act

ACT Workforce Solutions: LinkedIn

Resources

Missouri Department of Corrections (DOC)

ACT® WorkKeys® Assessments

ACT WorkKeys National Career Readiness Certificate® (NCRC®)

ACT Work Ready Communities  

ACT Workforce Solutions 

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