According widely published data, as well as Project Return’s website, the United States makes up only 5% of the world’s total population but 25% of the world’s prison population. The nonprofit describes incarceration as a growth industry in Tennessee, ranking 12th in the nation in terms of per capita incarceration – which they document grew nearly 12 % between 2008 and 2017.
Project Return
The nonprofit describes incarcerating as one of the defining dilemmas of our day, and asserts, “Nothing about addressing mass incarceration can be effective unless we assure that people have opportunities to succeed once they get out.”
Project Return was founded in 1979 by Nashville community leaders, the reverends Bill Barnes and Don Beisswenger. They realized the overwhelming obstacles that people face when leaving prison and returning to their communities. A key strategy contributing to the success of their programs is that all the work – with our employment partners, our supporters, and the people we serve – is relationship-based. And there is a focus on social entrepreneurship.
Through their PRO Employment program, the nonprofit’s first social enterprise, they create meaningful employment opportunities for the people we serve by hiring them themselves.
Participants gain real-world work experience and income as Project Return’s transitional employees, and then go on to become the proud and successful employees of Middle Tennessee companies.
Project Return
And through their PRO Housing program they create affordable rental homes for hard-working men and women who’ve left prison behind. Their other social enterprises include PROPS, a landscaping, janitorial, make-ready and disinfecting service for commercial clients and PROPS Disinfecting team- providing customized professional-level disinfecting services.
The success of Project Return is undeniable. While the regional and national rate of return to criminal behavior, or recidivism is over 50% for Project Return participants it is under 13%. And of the 694 people in the program in 2019, 587 got jobs – that’s 83%! And the programs and its participants create value. Comparing the program’s recidivism rate to that of the state demonstrates that Project Return saved taxpayers over $6 million in 2019.
In 2022 the program served 869 participants, with 75% of them getting jobs compared to only 35% nationally of those coming out of prisons. And the nonprofit provided participants a broad range of meaningful services and support such as, 3,782 bags of food, over 14,000 bus passes, 667 eyeglass vouchers, 663 housing stipends and 509 medical referrals.
In 2022 the organization was finally able to purchase a permanent headquarters in Nashville and to begin services in Chattanooga. Use your social platforms to spread the word about their good work. You can find participant success stories on their YouTube channel. To learn more, donate and get involved visit https://www.projectreturninc.org