Description: For many people returning home after incarceration, getting a job is treated as the finish line. Employment is important, especially when someone needs income quickly, but a first job doesn’t always create long-term stability or opportunity. Too often, justice-impacted job seekers are steered toward whatever work is immediately available without enough attention to wages, benefits, skill development, advancement, credentials, or the next step in a career pathway. Career professionals can play an important role in helping clients meet urgent employment needs while also building toward greater economic mobility.
This webinar will explore the difference between survival employment, stable employment, and career mobility after incarceration. Participants will examine how occupational pathways, stackable credentials, transferable skills, wages, benefits, advancement opportunities, and social capital can shape a person’s long-term career prospects. The session will also address the realities that can affect career planning after incarceration, including the urgent need for income, limited professional networks, employment gaps, criminal-record barriers, and the challenge of rebuilding a sense of career identity.
Designed for career counselors, coaches, university career professionals, workforce development practitioners, and others who may serve justice-impacted clients, the webinar will offer both a broader way of thinking about reentry employment and practical strategies for coaching clients beyond the question, “What job can I get?” Participants will leave with approaches for helping clients make strategic employment decisions, recognize opportunities for growth, build social and career capital, and use each job as a step toward greater choice, stability, and mobility.
Learning Objectives:
Differentiate among survival employment, stable employment, and career mobility for justice-impacted clients.
Evaluate employment opportunities based on wages, benefits, transferable skills, credentials, advancement potential, and alignment with longer-term career goals.
Apply practical coaching strategies that help clients overcome reentry barriers, build social and career capital, and use each job as a step toward greater stability and mobility.
Your Presenter: Amy K. Lopez, Ed.D.
Dr. Amy Lopez began her career in Texas K-12 schools and later led major education reforms within TX correctional systems. She served as Superintendent of Education for the Texas Juvenile Justice Department, Associate Superintendent for Windham School District, and was an Obama-era appointee as the first Superintendent of Education for the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
She later directed college and career readiness for the DC Department of Corrections. Currently, Dr. Lopez is CEO of Past the Edges Consulting, Executive Director for Hand2Heart DC, and the Vice Chairman of Maryland’s Juvenile Services Education Program board, appointed by Governor Wes Moore.
