The scale of the problem
We are failing at reentry. The numbers make it undeniable.
Every year, more than 600,000 people are released from state and federal prisons in the United States. Millions more cycle through jails, complete probation, or carry records from arrests that never led to conviction. The system releases them — and then systematically removes their ability to rebuild.
Nearly 75% remain unemployed a full year after release. Not because they don't want to work. Not because they aren't capable. Because a checkbox on an application ends the conversation before it starts. The result is predictable, documented, and expensive for everyone.
The intervention that works
Employment is the most effective reentry intervention we have.
Decades of criminological research point to the same conclusion: unemployment is the leading mechanism of recidivism. People who cannot find work after release face compounding instability — no income, no housing, no structure, no stake in the community. The conditions that lead back to crime are created by the conditions that prevent legitimate work.
The inverse is equally well-documented. When people find stable, fair employment after release, the likelihood of reoffense drops dramatically — not marginally, but by more than half.
"Employment was the single most important factor in decreasing recidivism."
Berg & Huebner, Justice Quarterly, 2011 — one of the most cited studies in reentry research
To state this plainly: a person who finds a job after release is more than three times less likely to reoffend than one who remains unemployed. The background check that removes them from consideration isn't protecting the community. In most cases, it's making the community less safe.
For government partners and investors
The math on employment vs. reincarceration.
The economic case
Cost of connecting someone to employment≈Fraction of that
Reduction in reoffense with stable employment≈69% lower rate
Hiring 100 formerly incarcerated people generates: an additional $1.9 million in income tax revenue, $770,000 in sales tax revenue, and saves millions in avoided criminal justice costs — prosecution, incarceration, supervision.
Every person We Are Humans connects to stable employment represents a measurable reduction in the probability of reincarceration — and a measurable reduction in the cost to the state. This is not a social argument. It is a budget argument.
For probation & parole departments
Employment compliance is your goal too. We built the tools to support it.
Employment is almost universally a condition of supervision. Officers know — from daily experience — that clients who find stable work stay compliant, make appointments, and successfully complete supervision. Those who remain unemployed face compounding instability that frequently ends in revocation.
We Are Humans was designed with probation and parole departments as partners — not just as a job board, but as a compliance infrastructure. Our supervision conditions matching engine filters every job listing against a client's specific restrictions — geographic, proximity-based, population-based, schedule-based. Clients only see jobs they're actually eligible for.
Our PO portal gives officers real-time visibility into client job search activity, employment status changes, and condition compatibility — with automatic documentation for court reporting. Fewer violations. Fewer revocations. Less paperwork. Better outcomes for everyone.
Reduced revocations are a budget line item. Every revocation avoided is a prosecution avoided, a bed avoided, a case load reduced. We are building a platform that makes your job easier and your outcomes better. We'd like to be your partner.
What we believe
The principles this platform is built on.
- 01 You are not defined by the worst thing you have ever done. This is not a sentiment. It is our operating principle. Every product decision, every policy, every employer we verify is tested against it.
- 02 Employment is a public safety intervention. The research is unambiguous. A platform that connects justice-impacted people to fair employment is not just helping individuals — it is reducing crime in the communities where those people live.
- 03 Inclusion must be real, not performative. We do not have carve-outs. We do not exclude populations because they are politically inconvenient. We follow the evidence — and the evidence does not support exclusion.
- 04 Dignity is not negotiable. Job seekers on this platform are not charity cases, risks to be managed, or liabilities to be disclosed. They are workers. We build every feature with that understanding.
- 05 Data changes minds. We will generate it. We are building the most comprehensive dataset on fair chance employment outcomes in the country. We will publish it. We will use it to change policy, change employer behavior, and change the conversation.
- 06 The business case and the moral case are the same case. Fair chance hiring reduces turnover, generates tax credits, fills labor shortages, and reduces community crime. It also happens to be the right thing to do. We don't think those two things are in tension.
What we are building
A platform. A dataset. A movement.
We Are Humans is a fair chance job board — but the job board is the beginning, not the end. We are building three things simultaneously:
A platform that connects justice-impacted job seekers to verified fair chance employers, with an AI-powered supervision conditions matching engine that ensures every match is legally appropriate for the individual's supervision status.
A dataset — the most comprehensive employment outcome data on justice-impacted workers ever compiled. Retention rates, recidivism correlations, offense-type breakdowns, employer performance. Published annually as the We Are Humans Fair Chance Employment Report. Used to change policy at the state and federal level.
A movement — a growing coalition of employers, researchers, reentry organizations, probation departments, and policymakers who believe the data and are willing to act on it. The Full Inclusion Employer program. The research partnerships. The legislative advocacy. The shift in what fair chance hiring actually means in practice.
We built this because no one else was building it right. We are building it for the 70 million people who deserve it.