Fredrick Jenkins spent 16 months in Nevada prisons before his release a month ago. He returned Tuesday to Casa Grande Transitional Housing in Las Vegas – where he was housed for his last six months – with the news that he will be starting a job as a chef at the Ahern Hotel, thanks to the training he received while incarcerated.
“When you’re in a situation like I was and there’s no opportunities, when you get out you fall back into your old ways,” he said. “But when you have people willing to take a chance on you, you take a chance on yourself.”
Jenkins spoke to an audience of nearly 50 people gathered to unveil a first-of-its-kind EmployNV Career Hub on September 26, 2023. The EmployNV Career Hub, in a partnership with HOPE for Prisoners and the Nevada Department of Corrections, will provide onsite one-on-one career coaching to those living at the facility, vocational training or other educational options, supportive services and employment help.
“There’s not another prison system literally in this country that is doing what we’re doing right here,” said Jon Ponder, Founder and CEO of HOPE for Prisoners. “We are laying the foundations to the phenomenal success we are going to have.”
James Dzurenda, Director of the Nevada Department of Corrections, said the EmployNV Career Hub will be successful because of all the agencies who collaborated to make it possible.
“We need to stop saying, ‘we can’t do it,’ and start figuring out how we do it,” Dzurenda said. “This isn’t a Corrections problem. This is all of our problem, and our success means your family and your kids will be safer. That’s how important it is that all of these agencies and groups come together.”
Casa Grande Transitional Housing is a dormitory-style facility that houses non-violent, non-sex crime inmates within 18 months of their parole eligibility. Residents have the opportunity to seek work and secure permanent housing before reintegrating into society. Currently, about 200 men and women reside at Casa Grande.
Career coaches and job developers from HOPE for Prisoners will staff the EmployNV Career Hub, an American Job Center of Nevada, thanks to federal funds by the U.S. Department of Labor awarded through Nevada’s Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation to Workforce Connections, Southern Nevada’s Local Workforce Development Board.
“What a great moment for this,” said Jaime Cruz, Executive Director for Workforce Connections. “We are in an economy where we have more jobs than we have people to fill them in Nevada. Let’s get these Nevadans into those jobs.”
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