{"id":500476,"date":"2026-10-18T22:08:13","date_gmt":"2026-10-18T22:08:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/500476\/"},"modified":"2026-10-18T22:08:13","modified_gmt":"2026-10-18T22:08:13","slug":"sacramento-testing-better-path-from-prison-to-jobs-heres-how","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/500476\/","title":{"rendered":"Sacramento testing better path from prison to jobs. Here\u2019s how"},"content":{"rendered":"

This story is part of \u201cThe Poverty Line,\u201d<\/a> \u200ba series examining how everyday people are work\u200bing to find housing, buy food or get healthcare in California, which has the second-highest poverty rate in the nation.<\/a><\/p>\n

Sacramento\u2019s workforce training agency is trying to build a jobs pipeline for recently released inmates from jails and prisons.<\/p>\n

The Sacramento Employment and Training Agency,<\/a> in a collaboration with Emerge Career,<\/a> is leading a three-year, $8 million state-funded program to train at least 550 justice-involved Sacramento County residents with behavioral health needs. The hope is to get them into jobs, such as commercial driving and diesel technology roles.<\/p>\n

Fewer than half of the 170,000 inmates released from California prisons between 2015 and 2019 found jobs, and many of those jobs were temporary, according to the Public Policy Institute of California.<\/p>\n

Emerge works with employers to place graduates in jobs, while SETA can help participants pay for rent, food and utilities when financial difficulties threaten their ability to finish training. Emerge continues to provide employment support for 12 months after placement.<\/p>\n

Perhaps most intriguing, Emerge gets paid for results.<\/p>\n

\"David David DeWitt, a participant in the Emerge Career program through the Sacramento Employment and Training Agency, practices driving at Western Pacific Truck School on Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026, as he prepares to earn his commercial driver\u2019s license. The program aims to help DeWitt find higher-paying work after his incarceration. HECTOR AMEZCUA hamezcua@sacbee.com <\/p>\n

Its payments are tied to three milestones: initial certification, an industry-recognized credential and verified job placement. If a participant doesn\u2019t reach a milestone, taxpayers don\u2019t pay Emerge for that stage.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the kind of experimentation government should be willing to try, but here\u2019s the bargain I\u2019d make with SETA: If we\u2019re willing to experiment with $8 million in public money, let the public watch the experiment.<\/p>\n

The good news is that SETA and Emerge already have much of the machinery to do that.<\/p>\n

Emerge collects data from the moment someone enters its online system and has created a dashboard that tracks applicants through eligibility, online training, hands-on training, credential attainment, job placement, wages and retention. Emerge says it can feed that information into SETA\u2019s existing public economic mobility dashboard.<\/p>\n

Do it.<\/p>\n

And don\u2019t give us only the flattering numbers. Track everyone who enters the pipeline, including those who start online training but never formally enroll. Show completion and credential rates, the percentage placed in jobs, median wages, benefits and job retention at three, six and 12 months.<\/p>\n

Eventually show housing stability and recidivism, and give us a number government rarely provides: cost per sustained job placement.<\/p>\n

In its New York City program, Emerge reports a 95% graduation rate and 96% job-placement rate among enrolled participants. Sacramento\u2019s contractual targets are at least 80% graduation and placement of at least 75% of program completers into full-time employment within 180 days.<\/p>\n

If Emerge succeeds, SETA will know what to replicate. If it falls short, the agency will know what to fix. That\u2019s what accountability should look like.<\/p>\n

\"David David DeWitt, a participant in the Emerge Career program through the Sacramento Employment and Training Agency, practices driving at Western Pacific Truck School on Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026, as he prepares to earn his commercial driver\u2019s license. The program aims to help DeWitt find higher-paying work after his incarceration. HECTOR AMEZCUA hamezcua@sacbee.com
\n Related Stories from Sacramento Bee<\/p>\n


\n \"Profile
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

Cathie Anderson<\/a><\/p>\n

The Sacramento Bee<\/p>\n

Cathie Andersonis a former journalist for the Sacramento Bee, the Bee.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This story is part of \u201cThe Poverty Line,\u201d \u200ba series examining how everyday people are work\u200bing to find…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":500477,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[121,123,122],"class_list":["post-500476","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sacramento","tag-sacramento","tag-sacramento-headlines","tag-sacramento-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500476","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=500476"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500476\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/500477"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=500476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=500476"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=500476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}