The Ridge House has designed an innovative initiative to place individuals to work for an agency-owned sandwich shop franchise. The shop would serve as a training ground for former offenders to learn specific, transferable job skills in restaurant operations and management, including additional challenges such as job retention skills.
The individuals will be paid 100% from the Work Experience (WEX) contract through its funding with Nevada Works (WIA). Through partnerships with other sandwich shop franchisees in the region, the trained individual will be placed at another location on the OJT (On the Job Training) contract, which pays up to 50% of the employee’s salary. This system would ensure a former offender to start employment immediately following release, which is a proven method to reduce relapse and re-incarceration rates.
This project will serve as a capacity-building project, as well. The establishment of a social enterprise for the agency has the potential of diversifying its funding streams beyond the usual public sector subsidies (government grants), charitable donations and client service fees. Profits from the sandwich shop will be used to support the agency’s other program, thus reducing its dependence on public (tax payer) dollars.
Dependence on government grants is not the way to run a sustainable non-profit organization. The goal with this project is to diversify the agency’s funding streams by creating a social entrepreneurial business model to sustain overall operations. Meanwhile, using the current clients of the agency to operate the franchise will give them important transferable job skills, reduce their dependence on the system and create productive members of society who pay taxes, volunteer in the community and take care of their children.
Ultimately, success of the project to create the franchise, as well as manage it, will be determined by the level of public support and involvement. The entire community is invited to become an active participant in the project and its eventual impact on our community’s offenders.
Click here to learn more about the potential project.
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