Workforce Development Presentations and workshops
These trainings and presentations are designed to enhance the ability of Employment Specialists, Navigators, and Case Managers to serve justice-impacted individuals, remove hesitancy in serving these job seekers, improve coaching skills, better engage employers, and increase empathy.
FROM TRANSACT TO TRANSFORM: PROVIDING EXCELLENT SERVICE TO JUSTICE-IMPACTED CUSTOMERS
Workforce development front-line staff often experience hesitancy in serving job seekers with criminal convictions due to a lack of specific training or personal history, which makes it challenging to put bias aside. While it is difficult without repetition to master serving this population, some basics can greatly impact how effectively employment specialists and navigators deliver services and improve the job seeker experience. In this informative, personal, and often humorous presentation, attendees will :
Learn the critical difference between a transactional approach—simply helping a justice-impacted individual find a job—and a transformational approach that equips them with the tools, mindset, and confidence to build a sustainable career.
Discover innovative techniques to help justice-impacted individuals identify and articulate their transferable skills, strengths, and unique contributions.
Gain practical strategies to help justice-impacted individuals determine when it’s appropriate to disclose their history and how to do so effectively.
Explore the unique and often interconnected challenges that both employment specialists and job seekers face in the reentry process.
Length: 60 minutes to 75 minutes. Great for anyone who serves justice-impacted individuals seeking employment.
This can be paired with a 60- to 120-minute workshop that will provide group exercises and examples of how to coach this population of job seekers
See audience and event organizer feedback for this presentation
fear factor: using data to overcome employer objections to hiring justice-impacted individuals
Employers often hesitate to hire justice-impacted individuals due to deeply ingrained myths and fears—concerns about negligent hiring lawsuits, retention challenges, workplace safety, or reputational risks. But are these fears truly justified? In this data-driven presentation, workforce development professionals will be equipped with the tools to address these objections head-on, using facts and case studies to challenge misconceptions. Attendees will:
Understand the most frequent objections employers have about hiring justice-impacted individuals, including concerns about liability, workplace safety, turnover, and public perception.
Explore the latest research and case studies that counter common employer fears, including statistics on retention rates, workplace safety records, and the rarity of negligent hiring lawsuits.
Learn how to position justice-impacted candidates as valuable assets, emphasizing their resilience, loyalty, and potential contributions.
Gain tools for leading impactful conversations with employers that balance empathy with persuasion.
Develop strategies to anticipate and address employer concerns before they arise, from creating structured hiring processes to offering post-hire support programs like mentoring and recovery coaching.
Length: 60 minutes to 75 minutes. Great for business services teams or anyone who serves justice-impacted individuals seeking employment.
This can be paired with a 60- to 120-minute workshop that will provide group exercises.
Audience and event organizer feedback for this presentation coming soon!
The Reentry Simulation: Live 30 Days in the Life of a Justice-Impacted Job Seeker
A reentry simulation is an educational outreach event highlighting the struggles and challenges faced by individuals transitioning from incarceration back into their communities. Participants take on the role of a person recently released from prison and navigate a series of stations that represent the many places a returning citizen must go. The goal is to help participants understand the obstacles people face, such as finding housing and employment, and accessing social services.
Based on training designed by the US Department of Justice, Ty is a trained facilitator in this educational, entertaining, and eye-opening experience for anyone in your community who wants to learn to empathize with justice-impacted individuals.
Length: 90 to 150 minutes (depending on the number of attendees), and includes an interactive discussion afterward.
Audience and event organizer feedback for this presentation coming soon!
Selling reentry: the best approaches to building fair chance employer networks
Engaging employers to hire justice-involved individuals requires more than just presenting facts—it’s about building trust, creating value, and managing long-term relationships. By applying proven sales and relationship-building techniques, attendees will learn how to address employer concerns, position justice-involved candidates as assets, and manage existing relationships to ensure continued collaboration and success. Attendees can expect to:
Learn how to identify and approach potential employer partners using sales strategies that focus on building trust, addressing specific business needs, and presenting justice-involved hiring as a valuable and strategic workforce solution.
Develop skills to qualify employers by assessing their readiness, interest, and capacity to support justice-involved hires.
Gain practical strategies for addressing common concerns employers have about hiring justice-involved individuals, such as perceived risk, liability, or workplace dynamics.
Explore best practices for maintaining ongoing relationships with employers who have hired justice-involved job seekers. .
Discover how to build your credibility and establish yourself as a trusted advisor to employers.
Length: 60 minutes. Great for business services teams or anyone who serves justice-impacted individuals seeking employment.
This can be paired with a 60- to 120-minute workshop that will provide group exercises.
Audience and event organizer feedback for this presentation coming soon!
tough to place: how to improve employment outcomes for the most highly barriered
Navigating employment for individuals with the most highly stigmatized backgrounds is one of the greatest challenges in workforce development. These job seekers face immense societal barriers, yet they can become valuable contributors to their communities and the workforce with intentional strategies and empathetic support. Sometimes the challenges these individuals face have to do with the workforce development system itself. Attendees will:
Explore how societal stigma impacts the hiring process for individuals with the most challenging criminal backgrounds and strategies to combat these biases effectively.
Learn proven approaches to discussing difficult convictions with employers, addressing their fears with facts, and reframing the narrative to highlight growth, accountability, and potential contributions.
Understand how to help employers navigate risk concerns with tools like performance management plans, clear expectations, and supportive workplace cultures.
Gain insights into identifying industries, roles, and small business opportunities that are more open to hiring justice-impacted individuals with significant barriers.
Discover coaching methods to help candidates present themselves authentically.
Length: 60 minutes to 75 minutes. Great for anyone who serves justice-impacted individuals seeking employment.
This can be paired with a 60- to 120-minute workshop that will provide group exercises and examples of how to coach this population of job seekers.