Entrepreneurship Training for Ex Offenders--Starting Your Own Business

An obvious way to help ex-offenders become legitimate earners is to teach them how to start a business.  Many employers aren't crazy about hiring them, and starting a business is a risky thing, while lots of ex-offenders are O.K. with risk taking.  So where are programs to help them do this?

In looking it over, I found some common threads: 1) many programs start right in prison, among active prisoners, rather than people out on the street. However, some work with released people and 2) yep, there's no grants or money giveaways.  At best, some offer the chance to get a microloan on favorable terms.  But the training in entrepreneural skills, especially writing business plans that you can present to institutions that loan money, is important in being able to get access to money.

Where to look?  Probably the most well-known is PEP (Prison Entrepreneurship Program) in Texas, in which inmates are chosen from across the Texas penal system to participate, after which they are transferred to the Cleveland (TX) facility and given an intensive course in business startup skills like marketing, finance and business plan writing.  The inmates have to be within 18 months of the end of their sentences, with at least 6 more months to serve, and must read and do math on at least the 10th grade level. Likewise, the Oklahoma Ex Offender Entrepreneural Training and Support Services are for inmates with GEDs or high school diplomas who are close to release. For women prisoners in Washington State and Oregon, there is the LIFE Prison Re-entry program that teaches entrepreneural skills to prisoners at Coffee Creek Correctional Facility in Wilsonville, OR, and the Washington Correctional Center for Women.

But what's out there once you're out?  There are a few things around the country.  One is Defy Ventures in metropolitan New York, which offers business training.  JVSChicago runs all sorts of business and job training, but has in the recent past offered the B.E.S.T program especially for ex-offenders. Project ReMade in the San Franciso area run by the Stanford Law School provides business training for women ex-offenders that have been out at least a year, but less than five years who have a high school diploma or a GED.  WIBO (Workshop in Business Opportunities) in New York that does all sorts of business training has workshops for ex-offenders.  Most interestingly, in the San Francisco area, the Springmeyer Law Firm offers pro bono services for ex-offenders who are starting up their businesses.

For more information on ex-offender business training opportunities, see this Inc magazine article, which is a few years old, but still has good information.

Disaster Money, and How to Find It

The terrible tornadoes and storms in the south remind us how fragile life is, and how quickly it (and all our possessions) can be taken away.  Where do you find help?
If a "natural disaster" is declared by the federal government, the Federal Emergency Management Agency is the place to go.  In the case of Alabama, Oklahoma, and North Carolina, web pages have been created to let people know how to get help.  You can follow the links, or remember this number: 1-800-621-3362.  It's the general number to find FEMA disaster assistance.  If you live in another part of the country harmed by a declared disaster, here's a link to all the federally declared disasters for 2011, with links that tell you how to get assistance.  Here, in general, is a step-by-step of what you are eligible for, and how to apply.
Besides help for individuals, the SBA also offers low-interest loans for businesses hurt by disasters.  Likewise, the USDA has disaster assistance programs, and the Internal Revenue Service has a page devoted to tax assistance to disaster victims.  Don't forget to check out your state's page for disaster management--the link is at the bottom of the SBA page.

Grants and Easements for Environmental Preservation

Besides preserving the ecosystems of government-owned lands, federal and state governments often offer grants, tax breaks and technical assistance (advice) to the owners of private lands in order to preserve those ecosystems.  Of course, this is only for people who own land is is ecologically valuable, especially wetlands and environments that support rare species of animals and plants.   One of these is the federal wetlands program, but many states offer programs, too;  Ohio, Texas, Oklahoma, Idaho, even northeast Indiana (among many others) offer programs to land owners in the form of grants and easements (payments to keep the land undeveloped and in its natural state).   The National Landowners Network has a site that gives a state-by-state and federal rundown of financial incentives for land owners who agree to make their environmentally valuable land kept in its natural state, with commentary on its impact and usefulness to the land owner.

Businesses Can Use Linked Deposits to Borrow Money Cheaper

What’s a linked deposit, and how can it help your business get a lower cost loan? It’s simple. State and local governments gather up money all the time, and need somewhere to invest and grow it. Some of them figure that they can kill two birds with one stone—invest the money in the form of CD’s in lending institutions in their state, linked to the amount that the institution loans to certain types of businesses in that state, at a lower rate (maybe a couple of percentage points) lower than the going rate. That interest rate savings is passed along to the borrower, and makes borrowing money a couple of percentage points cheaper as a result.


Like most government programs, it is pointed towards a particular end—mostly business development, and particularly, the type of businesses that the state has an eye towards growing. So, in Washington State, certified military service members and veterans have a linked deposit program to provide cheaper loan money for veterans in business. In Maryland, there is a program for certified minority business people. Oklahoma has several programs—for agriculture, small business, and developers of affordable housing. Ohio has a bunch—more than I realized. Besides the one for small business, there is one for agriculture. There’s another one for the rehabilitation of underground petroleum tanks and another one for logging and silviculture. In fact, Ohio has the only linked deposit system of saving that I know of for individuals—SaveNow, which allows a higher rate of savings return for individual Ohioans.

There is no one centralized list of linked programs, even in one state. Many are run out of the state’s treasurer’s office, but not all. Here’s a list of state treasurer’s offices, just to start. To find more possible programs in your state and see if you are the type of business your state wants to grow, Google the name of your state and “linked deposit” program.  Remember that you will still have to come up with a good business plan, and be credit worthy.  These programs are no guarantee that you will be loaned the money!  But they are a good option to consider.