USA LAB

 In MIT’s USA LAB: Bridging the American Divides, three fellow graduate students and I co with the Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque (CFGD) and Fountain of Youth (FOY) to (1) identify, address, & understand the barriers to employment for previously incarcerated residents in Dubuque, Iowa and (2) expand the workforce pipeline for these individuals.

Throughout the partnership, our team completed several tasks, which included:

• Investigating recidivism rates and reintegration programs on a state and national level

• Facilitating feedback sessions with previously incarcerated individuals to understand their pinpoints to employment and opinions on our suggested solutions

• Interviewing over 40 stakeholders within the community- including major employers, law enforcement, housing providers, and brain health experts - to identity various barriers to employment

• Analyzing gathered information to provide highly customized and actionable solutions for CFGD and to initiate within their community

Our work identified 8 critical employment barriers that could be addressed by 3 primary mechanisms:

1. Building a strong support network

2. Establishing a coordinated care management

3. Providing individual mentorship, case management, or counseling

These primary mechanisms led to 9 recommended pathways Dubuque community leaders could enact to greatly reduce the barriers to employment for previously incarcerated individuals. The top three recommendations include:

• Increasing capacity of individual coaches and counselors within the system

• Redefining the role of the PO to become like that of a case manager

• Increasing capacity of brain health and substance abuse services

More information, including background research, data analysis, and implementation strategy can be found in the attached report.