Prison Entrepreneurship Education
Location
Incarceration is a US pandemic. 1 in 15 Americans will be incarcerated - and 7 million are currently court-involved. The annual cost? $50 billion.
However, 67% of prisoners return to prison. Why? No-one will hire them.
Entrepreneurship 101 teaches people in prison practical tools to be successful through self-employment.
About You
Section 1: You
First Name
Baillie
Last Name
Aaron
Website URL
Organization
Entrepreneurship 101
Country
United States, MA
Section 2: Your Organization
Organization Name
Entrepreneurship 101
Organization Website
Organization Phone
(617) 780-6031
Organization Address
N/A
Is your organization a
Not registered
Organization Country
United States, MA
Your idea
Name Your Project
Prison Entrepreneurship Education
Country and state your work focuses on
United States, MA
Describe Your Idea
Incarceration is a US pandemic. 1 in 15 Americans will be incarcerated - and 7 million are currently court-involved. The annual cost? $50 billion.
However, 67% of prisoners return to prison. Why? No-one will hire them.
Entrepreneurship 101 teaches people in prison practical tools to be successful through self-employment.
Website URL
Innovation
What makes your idea unique?
Entrepreneurship 101 (E101) is the sole provider of entrepreneurship education INSIDE correctional facilities in MA - and the ONLY program in the nation also offering these services to detained youth and people on probation/parole. We are a volunteer-run organization - yet we reach 450 students per year, and offer classes at ten locations.
Unlike other prison education programs - and community-based efforts - E101 empowers students with PRACTICAL TOOLS that they can use immediately to create their own jobs. While other programs teach soft skills, offer vocational training, or run job readiness programs - we do all that, and more.
We coach our students through the process of writing full-length business plans - teaching critical thinking, planning, and goal-setting along the way. We spend an equal amount of time on business life skills, including networking, negotiation, and interview skills, to ensure our students are prepared to communicate in today's workplace. We also focus on social entrepreneurship, encouraging our students to give back to their communities through non-profits.
E101 is uniting the larger community to address incarceration - we bring together entrepreneurs, PhDs, MBAs, working professionals, and graduate students into correctional facilities as volunteers.
Finally, we are developing wraparound care for students. E101 youth are eligible for our Professional Mentorship Program. Business professionals serving as mentors help them develop into mature students with focused goals, larger networks, and increased exposure to opportunity.
Entrepreneurship 101 is a unique, innovative program with demonstrated results - and demonstrated need.
Do you have a patent for this idea?
Impact
This Entry is about (Issues)
What impact have you had?
After taking our class - whether in prison or in the Department of Youth Services - our students feel more confident about their potential success as entrepreneurs - as well as more empowered, inspired, and hopeful. Some of our graduates are continuing their education in post-secondary institutions or through adult education providers - in order to start the businesses they dreamed up in their E101 classes. Others are actively running their businesses.
Correctional officers and prison managers have noticed behavioral changes in students that take our classes. But we at E101 believe the true proof of our impact comes in the feedback from our students.
In their own words:
"This course changed my life"
"People definitely need this class so they can see there are other ways to go about becoming successful and staying out of places like this [prison]."
“I’ve learned that there are opportunities for someone who has been to jail.”
“Completing this class was the biggest accomplishment of my life after the Marine Corps.”
"Whether it was negotiating or networking, this class gave me the tools to start my own business."
Problem
Incarceration is an American pandemic.
We incarcerate at a higher rate than ANY OTHER COUNTRY in the world. Over 7 million Americans are under correctional supervision. One in 15 people will be incarcerated during their lifetime.
Incarceration is expensive. Taxpayers spend nearly $50 billion annually on corrections. This doesn't include the social cost of incarceration on children, families, and communities - or related mental health, substance abuse, and unemployment consequences.
Despite the cost, prison is NOT helping people "re-enter" successfully. Every year, over 600,000 people are released from prison - and 67% will go back within three years.
Why are recidivism rates so high? The main answer is unemployment. Part of the story is that people coming out of prison are under-educated and have insufficient work experience.
But the main issue is that 65% of employers will not hire anyone with a criminal record, regardless of qualifications. When criminal records are accessible for 10 or more years AFTER someone is released from prison and off probation - the odds are stacked high against formerly incarcerated people in their search for employment.
Actions
Entrepreneurship 101 is a unique, innovative program addressing the mismatch between the resumes/qualifications of formerly incarcerated people - and employers' preferences - by introducing an alternative approach: entrepreneurship education.
Our volunteers teach 3-month classes on entrepreneurship, financial literacy, and business life skills at 10 different correctional institutions in Massachusetts. We cover MBA-level material including market research, budgeting, advertising, networking, and negotiation - and require our adult students to complete full-length business plans. We have high standards for our students, and we have not been disappointed. Our attendance and homework completion rates for adults are close to 100%, and our course is consistently waitlisted at correctional facilities.
Our youth class, taught at 5 Department of Youth Services facilities, is a shorter version of the adult class with a heavier emphasis on business life skills. All youth who complete the E101 course are eligible for our Professional Mentorship program, which offers youth positive role models and increased exposure to alternative definitions of success.
Results
E101 is a relatively new organization - and already has demonstrated results.
With the necessary funding, we will commission a longitudinal study tracking E101 students as they transition back into their communities, and throughout the critical 3-year period post-release. We expect that our students will be more successful than formerly incarcerated individuals who were not enrolled in E101, defining success as:
- decreased recidivism (rearrest and reincarceration) rates
- higher employment rates (including self-employment)
- higher wages
- increased civic engagement
- greater feelings of self-efficacy, self-confidence, and hopefulness
What will it take for your project to be successful over the next three years? Please address each year separately, if possible.
To be successful, E101 will require:
1) Funding to provide wraparound care to its students as they transition out of prison and back into their communities.
2) Community support from businesses, universities, non-profits, and the general public to provide a unified support system for people re-integrating into society.
3) Increased media presence and attention to raise awareness of the challenges people in prison face, and what can be done on the ground level to help them out.
4) Greater volunteer involvement in teaching classes, mentoring students, and providing post-release tutoring, advising, and other support to students.
What would prevent your project from being a success?
Entrepreneurship 101 (E101) is reliant on volunteers, donors, community partners, and the cooperation of correctional facilities.
The success of E101 depends on having the support of volunteers to teach classes and mentor youth. Without qualified, passionate people willing to donate their time to this important cause, E101 would cease to exist.
Similarly, as a volunteer organization, E101 is run on a shoestring budget. While we are lucky to have some limited support from Junior Achievement, the SUCCESS Foundation, and Staples for textbooks and office supplies for our students, our growth and impact is hampered by lack of financial resources. If we had additional funding, we could offer educational scholarships to students; provide students with a "business care package" upon their release; and expand the post-release services we are able to offer.
We are committed to working WITH the community, rather than as an individual entity. Our definition of success therefore is contingent on our partnerships with community organizations providing services to formerly incarcerated and low-income people, and other community development organizations. Similarly, without the support of correctional facilities, and the staff at all levels within the Department of Youth Services and the Department of Corrections, we would not be able to enter into prison facilities in order to provide our educational service.
E101 is fortunate that so far, we have received tremendous support from volunteers, community organizations, and correctional agencies -- it is only our financial situation that is a barrier to us reaching our potential for impact.
How many people will your project serve annually?
101‐1000
What is the average monthly household income in your target community, in US Dollars?
Less than $50
Does your project seek to have an impact on public policy?
Yes
Sustainability
What stage is your project in?
Operating for 1‐5 years
In what country?
United States, MA
Is your initiative connected to an established organization?
Yes
If yes, provide organization name.
Junior Achievement
How long has this organization been operating?
More than 5 years
Does your organization have a Board of Directors or an Advisory Board?
Does your organization have any non-monetary partnerships with NGOs?
Yes
Does your organization have any non-monetary partnerships with businesses?
Yes
Does your organization have any non-monetary partnerships with government?
Yes
Please tell us more about how these partnerships are critical to the success of your innovation.
We are committed to working WITH the community, rather than as an individual entity. Our definition of success therefore is contingent on our partnerships with community organizations providing services to formerly incarcerated and low-income people, and other community development organizations. Junior Achievement and the SUCCESS Foundation, both NGOs, donate entrepreneurship and life skills textbooks to each of our students - we are reliant on their donations to continue to provide such a high-quality educational service. Similarly, without the support of correctional facilities, and the staff at all levels within the Department of Youth Services and the Department of Corrections, we would not be able to enter into prison facilities in order to provide our educational service.
What are the three most important actions needed to grow your initiative or organization?
1) Unify the greater community - to tackle the problem of incarceration and provide a successful mechanism for formerly incarcerated people to re-integrate back into their communities, we need to bring together the community.
2) Funding - our students need scholarships to continue their education; seed money and loans to develop their businesses; business attire for job interviews; and bus passes. Due to Pell Grants, many cannot receive financial aid; most banks and small business loan providers exclude people with felony records from use of their services; and because of budget cuts, other non-profits cannot provide clothing and bus passes to indigent people just out of prison. To really be effective in providing wraparound care to our students, we need to raise money.
3) Increased social network - we are looking to recruit volunteer teachers, mentors, and guest speakers from the larger business and professional community. In order to expand our contacts, and gain exposure outside our current connections, we need help!
The Story
What was the defining moment that led you to this innovation?
In retrospect, I can very clearly identify the series of events which propelled me to start Entrepreneurship 101.
In 2007, while working at Harvard Kennedy School's Program in Criminal Justice Policy and Management, I started to volunteer at a local county prison as a GED tutor in order to see how the policies my department was proposing at a high level, influenced individuals directly.
While tutoring GED, I was awakened to the following realizations:
1) People in prison have lower educational levels than average, and while officially many were passed through to 8th or 9th grades, in actuality, the majority of people in prison have reading, writing, and math levels comparable to a third grader. It is incredibly challenging to raise someone's literacy and math levels to GED level in a once-a-week tutoring program -- and VERY few people in state prisons have access to this type of help.
REALIZATION 1: I found that if I added dollar signs to mathematical equations, and assigned business-related reading assignments, suddenly people understood!
2) Even if people in prison attain a GED, it is nearly impossible for them to find a job post-release that pays above minimum wage and will allow them to support a family. One study found that 65% of employers will NOT knowingly hire a person with a felony record. Add to that the problem of lower educational levels than average, and work history gaps - and even lack of work experience - and the problem becomes much more serious.
REALIZATION 2: Despite these hiring barriers, there is always the possibility of self-employment.
3) I disovered I was surrounded by entrepreneurs! An academic study showed that people in prison have higher-than-average entrepreneurial aptitude - and I saw this very clearly. Most of the people I talked to had operated small businesses in the past, and the vast majority saw themselves as entrepreneurs in the future.
REALIZATION 3: There was a tremendous demand for entrepreneurship education from people in prison -- people wanted to start legal, legitimate businesses but lacked the tools, resources, and contacts to do it.
A few months after I started tutoring at this prison, I opened up the first E101 class - which was waitlisted, and which has continued to be waitlisted, ever since.
Tell us about the social innovator behind this idea.
Entrepreneurship 101 was founded by Baillie Aaron. Aaron graduated Magna Cum Laude from Harvard University, where she majored in Psychology and Economics and wrote her thesis on racial disparities in judicial sentencing decisions. She started Entrepreneurship 101 while working at Harvard Kennedy School's Program in Criminal Justice Policy and Management.
Aaron's long-term goals are to reduce the cost of juvenile and adult corrections; reduce the number of youth and adults entering and cycling through the criminal justice system; and ultimately to effect change in juvenile and adult corrections through the provision of practical education. She is committed to learning from best-practices and using research-based methods to achieve these social changes.
Aaron was inducted into the Junior Achievement Boston Business Hall of Fame in 2010 for her volunteer work running Entrepreneurship 101 and its impact on the Boston community. She was also named a 2010 CJP/PresenTense Social Entrepreneurship Fellow. She received the Alberta Young Entrepreneurs Award of Distinction in 2004.
How did you first hear about Changemakers?
Friend or family member
If through another, please provide the name of the organization or company
Span, Inc (Boston, MA)
 | Prison Entrepreneurship Education has been chosen as a finalist in Revelation to Action: Your Place. Your Idea. Your Change.. - 611 days ago |
| baaron updated this Competition Entry. - 661 days ago |
| baaron updated this Competition Entry. - 662 days ago |
| baaron submitted this idea. - 662 days ago |
