Introduction to Small Business, led by prison inmates

• Provide prison inmates with real-world, actionable knowledge of creating, starting, and operation a small business
• Improve prospects for employment - whether self or otherwise - for people in prison upon their release
• Create a positive, more confident mindset

• 12 Classes, 1.5 Hours per Class
• Two Sessions:  Monday/Wednesday (6 weeks) and Friday (12 weeks)
• Provides people in prison with all basic small business functions/concepts: Mindset, Business Idea, Branding, Research, Marketing, Social Media, Sales, Operations/Staffing, Funding, Business Structure, Budgeting
• Taught via Video by centralized instruction by prison inmates

• Launched in 2019
• Revised and Updated in 2020 and 2022
• Two Expansion Proposals Submitted to State
• Prior to Expansion, Graduated 225+ Prison Inmates
• Workbook Created

• 8 Units, 8 Complexes, 96 Weekly Student
• YTD 2024:  

            - Graduated 233  

            - Current Session Enrollment of 96 

            - Q3'24 Project Graduating 144

Feedback from on this course from prison inmates has been extremely positive, as evidenced by the survey results from class graduates provided below.

5 Point Scale - Poor (1) to Excellent (5)

• Content/Information Provided:  4.7
• Instructors:  4.8

5 Point Scale - Strongly Disagree (1) to Strongly Agree (5)

• Helped me change my mindset:  4.5
• Taught me new information or skills:  4.9
• Will be useful on release from prison:  4.8
• I would recommend this class to another inmate:  4.8

With the exception of a few select courses, most prison inmates with lifetime sentences have few opportunities to participate in meaningful programming that will assist them and be relevant during their incarceration.  Further, many parole boards require applicants to seek out and participate in prison programs as part of the parole hearing review.  The Lifer Work Skills Certification course provides people in prison with job skills certification from accredited schools, foundations, and universities, including both online and printed certificates, and should assist the parole applicant in meeting those needs in a credible way.

To determine work skill areas, a survey was conducted among the inmate population with life sentences.  Of those surveyed, 94% indicated they were interested in participating in job/work skills courses, while 6% had no interest in programming due to the lack of ability to utilize these learned skills on the unit.

Among all respondents, these were the interest levels in participating in courses that taught the following skills:

Within the other category, topics such as CPR, agriculture, barber, animal husbandry, software cooking, graphic design, emergency services, and sign language were mentioned as areas of interest by prison inmates.

The Lifer Work Skills Certification course recently completed its first pilot program, graduating 26 students in Social Media Management skills.  Based on this success, it is now in the process of expanding to those with a life sentence at additional medium security units.