The more than 600,000 people who are released from prison each year face a range of obstacles to successful reentry into the community. Perhaps not surprisingly, outcomes are often poor: Two-thirds of those who are released from prison are rearrested and half are reincarcerated within three years. States and localities throughout the nation are searching for programmatic approaches to improve reentry outcomes, but there is limited evidence about which strategies work best.

Many believe that it is most critical to address the employment needs of individuals with previous incarceration in the period immediately following their release. The Joyce Foundation’s Transitional Jobs Reentry Demonstration tested the effectiveness of transitional jobs programs, a promising employment-based reentry model. The foundation selected MDRC to lead the evaluation of this important initiative. The Urban Institute and the University of Michigan also played key roles as subcontractors to MDRC. The project was also funded by the JEHT Foundation (which is no longer operating) and the U.S. Department of Labor.