STRENGTHENING THE CITY’S WORKFORCE | Office of Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti

New Roads is a transitional job and job placement program for formerly incarcerated men and women currently on parole or probation. Participants receive:

• Transitional employment 
• Resume support and job placement
• Comprehensive case management

New Roads launched in 2016 through a partnership between the Mayor’s Office, Caltrans, and Chrysalis, with an initial $8.9 million state grant. To date, New Roads has served more than 1,200 individuals on probation or parole with job training, workforce development, wraparound services, and transitional employment — with the goal of supporting their successful re-entry following incarceration. 

Each New Roads participant is eligible for up to 90 paid working days on a Caltrans crew. Since the program’s inception, New Roads teams have collected 606,811 bags of trash from roads and highways across L.A. County, helping clean and beautify our public passages. 

Beyond joining cleanup crews, participants work with case managers at Chrysalis to help them develop their resumes, participate in job-readiness classes, complete practice interviews, and access everything from computers and professional attire to scholarship funds and transportation assistance. While working for New Roads, participants develop skills that enable them to transition to full-time employment and long-term self-sufficiency.

For individuals trying to navigate challenges to securing employment, such as experience with the criminal justice system, a transitional job presents the opportunity to get back to work quickly, earn a wage, and develop or build on their skills.

MORE ABOUT CHRYSALIS

Chrysalis is a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating a pathway to self-sufficiency for people experiencing homelessness and low-income individuals by providing the resources and support needed to prepare for, find, and retain employment. Since 1984, Chrysalis has served more than 66,000 individuals at its five centers and locations throughout Southern California. In 2019, more than 2,500 Chrysalis clients secured employment while participating in Chrysalis’ program and more than 1,460 participants worked a transitional job with the organization’s social enterprise. 

Learn more at ChangeLives.org.

WHAT IS PROJECT IMPACT: 

Funded through the California Board of State and Community Corrections Proposition 47 grant, the City of Los Angeles Project imPACT Project imPACT provides comprehensive services to justice-affected individuals in four L.A. regions and focuses on improving employment outcomes as a way to reduce future criminal justice system involvement. Project imPACT goals are:

• Reduce Recidivism
• Increase job attainment and retention
• Improve Project imPACT program providers’ ability to better serve justice-involved individuals

California Board of State and Community Corrections (BSCC) Proposition 47 was a voter-approved initiative on the November 2014 ballot that reduced from felonies to misdemeanors specified low-level drug and property crimes. Each year, the state savings generated by the implementation of Proposition 47 are deposited into the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Fund. Sixty-five percent of these savings are set aside annually for the BSCC to administer a competitive grant program. Proposition 47 requires that these funds be awarded to public agencies to provide mental health services, substance use disorder treatment and/or diversion programs for those in the criminal justice system. Additional legislation (AB 1056, Chap. 438, Stats. of 2015) requires that the grants be awarded competitively, specifies that funds may serve both adults and juveniles and allows funds to be used for housing-related assistance and other community-based supportive services, including job skills training, case management or civil legal services.  The BSCC further requires that at least 50 percent of the award made to grantees is passed through to community-based service providers.

The Proposition 47 grant program, administered by the California Board of State and Community Corrections (BSCC), provides discretionary grant funding to localities to provide community-based supportive services to justice-involved individuals. The goal of these funds is to invest in programs designed to reduce risk of recidivism among individuals with substance use and mental health problems who have been involved in the criminal justice system (Taylor, 2015). In June 2017, the Los Angeles Mayor’s Office of Reentry was awarded $6 million through the inaugural round of Proposition 47 grant funding from the BSCC to implement Project imPACT, referred to as Cohort 1. In 2019, the program was awarded $ million is a second round of funding, referred to as Cohort 2.

WHO IS ELIGIBLE: 

Los Angeles City adults 18 and over residents who are:

• On Probation, Parole, or have been arrested or sustained a conviction within the past year
• Living with mental health issues and/or substance use disorders
• Willing to obtain employment
• Determined by a Project imPACT risk/need assessment to have a medium to high risk of re-offending

BREAKDOWN OF SERVICES: 

Employment: Training and placement services for all participant

Legal services: Free access to legal services provided by an attorney

Support: Individualized & group counseling along with peer mentorship

Housing: Employed participants are offered shared housing & retention services

THE ROLE OF THE MAYOR’S OFFICE: 

The Mayor’s Office hosts monthly meetings with all project partners, including service providers and the evaluation team. This allows providers to discuss service delivery, discuss challenges and brainstorm solutions, and highlight any questions or concerns they have about service provision. This includes collaborating to ensure that regions are consistent in the application of program definitions and providing the delivery model. The Mayor’s office also conducts regular check-ins with the regional directors. In addition, during this period, the Evaluation Team continued to work with providers to strengthen their data reporting procedures and work with a new data reporting and management system.

PARTNERS/LOCATIONS: