The Benz Foundation’s Second Chance Employment Initiative
Born of the belief that all people who legally served their time deserve a fair chance at employment.
Every single week
10,000 people are released from prison
These men and women have paid their debt to society. They deserve an opportunity to earn a living wage, to provide for their families, and to break the cycle of incarceration.
However statistics show that the system has erected barriers which prevent far too many capable citizens from reaching their true potential.
The Benz Family Foundation asked us to address this inequity, at scale.
The Stats point to a clear need
Formerly incarcerated people have an unemployment rate that is nearly 25% higher than the general public.
The statistics point to a clear need for better employment opportunities for the formerly incarcerated.
There are 9.6 million job openings in the U.S., but only 6.4 million people are unemployed. (1)
Formerly incarcerated people who are employed are more than twice as likely to not commit additional crimes. (2)
Only 17% of white job candidates with criminal records get called back after an interview. That number drops to 5% for Black candidates with a record. (3)
Nearly half of the unemployed men in the U.S. have been convicted of a crime. (4)
(1) The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, (2) The Prison Policy Initiative, (3) Forbes, “Fair Chance Hiring is Good for Business”, (4) February 2022 report by the RAND Corp.
Helmed by a leading advocate in the movement
Genevieve Martin
The Benz Foundation’s Second Chance Employment Initiative seeks to address income disparity among the formerly incarcerated and level the playing field at a scale
The initiative has supported cutting edge organizations, aligned itself with leaders in the world of Human Resources, and has developed proprietary technology solutions with the potential to help millions of people.
Genevieve is also known for other initiative such as:
Thousands of organizations were working to address this challenge. But not together.
Our research showed that far too many of the organizations working to help employ formerly incarcerated couldn’t break through the standard HR practices that filtered out great candidates.
Our team dreamed up and built a solution that leverages Artificial Intelligence, live-video coaching, video based lessons and additional tools to help any candidate prep, find, and land a job.
Presenting Talent Nova.
The first comprehensive digital solution to increase second chance employment at scale.
A.I. Generated Resume & Cover Letter
In less than 10 minutes, any user can craft a professional resume and cover letter.
A.I. Assisted local job search
With a completed resume, our A.I. can generate a list of available jobs — in your zip code.
Live Coaching & Career Prep
Our team of coaches are available to speak directly to job candidates with expert guidance.
Library of video-based lessons
Commonly asked questions and lessons are answered by knowledgeable experts.
This is
35,000+
Users
14,000+
Resumes & coverletters
46
States across america
150+
Talent nova trained partners
5+
Government partners
We invite you to visit TalentNova for yourself. Or feel free to ask us for a demo.
Getting Talent Back to Work
We work with Human Resources leadership to change perceptions.
In 2019, The Society of Human Resource Managers (SHRM) launched a comprehensive set of resources as part of their commitment to increase hiring opportunities for the formerly incarcerated.
Their “Getting Talent Back to Work” document provided a wealth of information for potential employers. However as a pdf that was nearly 50-pages long, it was not getting the traction and usage it deserved.
The Benz Foundation worked directly with SHRM to turn their depth of knowledge and resources into an interactive web experience that allowed an HR manager to explore, learn, and gain knowledge at their own pace, supported with video, made simple through animation and graphics, and optimized for desktops, tablets and mobile devices.
Since first launching, GettingTalentBackToWork.org has reached and educated more than 35,000 professionals on the best practices for second chance employment.
We support programs that provide career training and impact lives.
The last mile began as a program in the san quentin prison, teaching incarcerated individuals to write computer code, preparing each participant for meaningful-wage employment upon release.
The Benz Foundation supported work for The Last Mile to help the program achieve it’s goals of scale - in the number of prisons it serves, the number of students it educates, and the diversity of educational opportunities it provides.
The Last Mile now operates 19 classrooms across 7 states. Through our work together, they have launches the Music & Video Production program - which teaches students the skills required to pursue employment in the music industry. That program has expanded to include its own show on Sirius XM and a formidable partnership with Sirius XM.