returning citizen work-ready employment program (RCE) in partnership with truist bank

Greater Baltimore Urban League (GBUL) is honored to announce our legendary innovative pilot, "Returning Citizen Work-Ready Employment Program (RCE)" in partnership with TRUIST Bank.
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Our mission is to enable African Americans and other minorities to secure economic self-reliance, parity, power, and civil rights. Founded in Baltimore in 1924, GBUL is an affiliate of the National Urban League, which was founded in 1910. Our three-pronged approach for pursuing the mission is: 

• Ensuring that our children are well-educated and equipped for economic self-reliance;
• Helping adults attain economic self-sufficiency through good sustainable jobs, home ownership, entrepreneurship and wealth accumulation; 
• Ensuring our civil rights by eradicating all barriers to equal participation in the economic and social mainstream of America.

In recent years, evidence-based criminal justice practices have demonstrated promising strategies for connecting hard-to-employ people to work, particularly among recently released prisoners. With mounting research, it is clear there are significant benefits for our communities in working with this population. Evidence shows that successful reintegration into the workforce can make neighborhoods and families safer and more stable. In its 2012 report, the U.S. Department of Education reported extensively that supporting education and career advancement training for low-skill individuals in corrections is a critical factor towards successful community re-entry programs. 

Through our RCE, GBUL is committed to ensuring safe and successful transition from incarceration to the community since we firmly believe that despite being challenging and complex, re-entry is more than staying out of jail or prison, in that it involves reuniting families, eliminating barriers to employment by providing essential skills, and facilitating the support of locating stable housing. ​