Second Chance Program

The Second Chance Program which is unique in this area, offers leadership and work that organizes the entire metro social service community in order to reduce recidivism and to support Missouri Probation & Parole. They connect high risk returning offenders to services.

Second Chance Program Research

Gaps Analysis– In April of 2010, UMKC Criminology Professor Alexander Holsinger and former Second Chance Program Director Lora McDonald concluded gaps analysis research (Examining Offender Reentry in KC Metropolitan Area: A Gaps Analysis), funded by Health Care Foundation of Greater Kansas City, which identified programmatic, systemic, policy and service gaps that, if addressed, could decrease recidivism and increase success of returning offenders in the metropolitan area. (Information from KC-Crime.org)

Local Resources

• Be the Boss: Business Support Group for Returning Citizens: We teach entrepreneurial skills to returning citizens. Because if you can’t find a job, create one.
•  The Help(KC)  A registered non-for-profit organization in Kansas City who primarily focuses on formerly incarcerated women/women with felony convictions with reentry initiatives offered in Health & Wellness, Employment & Women Empowerment.
•  Footprints, Inc. Provides outpatient treatment, recovery support, classes and computer training to people in the reentry process.
•  Warehouseman Training Inc. We provide training for exoffenders or anyone needing skills in Warehousing (OSHA forklift license, OSHA-10), With class also for Administrative Assistance teaching Microsoft Office 365 and other office skills. All through grants.
• Artists Helping the Homeless Inc (AHH) AHH assists in developing and implementing re-entry plans for individuals who would otherwise be homeless.   A diverse menu of services is available through a true collaboration.  The program continues to work with clients as they progress from agency to agency in order to fill gaps and adjust plans.
• Beyond the Conviction: Our mission at Beyond The Conviction is to provide “At Risk Job Seekers” a range of specialized services designed to educate, provide direction, counseling, and to empower indivuals and their families. Beyond The Conviction will do this through the educational and training services we provide!
• Greater Kansas City Coalition to End Homelessness Resource Guide: A door signifies many things– choices, transitions, passageways, new opportunities… To some, entering a door means first and foremost, they are home. At the GKCCEH, we believe every person needs and deserves a door to walk through and into a home. We hope you will join us in the fight to end homelessness in the Greater Kansas City area.
• Center for Conflict Resolution  The Center for Conflict Resolution (CCR) prevents violence by providing:
  • a safe, structured and positive environment where individuals can choose understanding over escalating conflict,
  • processes that empower people to resolve, manage and transform conflict in their lives and
  • training that imparts the skills and tools that are necessary to create peaceful solutions and restore relationships.
• Metro Lutheran Ministries Assistance and support for job searches, resume building and employment coaching.
  • Access to computer, print, fax machine and flash drives to facilitate job searches.
  • Help obtaining work clothes such as steel-toed boots or help obtaining food handler’s licenses or other certifications.
  • Bus passes to get to job interviews or temporarily for work.
  • Out-of-state birth certificates.
  • Small Dollar Assistance for various work-related needs.
  • Assistance for ex-offenders re-entering the community.
  • Financial counseling and public benefits coaching.

  To make use of these services, contact Jacob Bosch at 816.285.3144

• Journey to New Life Ninety-six percent of people in prison will one day be released back into the community — our community. Think about that for a second. There’s a good chance you’ve stood next to a former offender in line at the grocery story, sat next to them at the movies or even struck up a conversation at your child’s bus stop.The United States has the highest incarceration rate of any country in the world. Yet, we are ill-prepared to help former offenders reintegrate into the community once they’ve served their sentence.They face roadblocks to housing, employment, education, financial resources, family reunification, and so much more. Journey to New Life works to remove those roadblocks and restore opportunity to those re-entering life after prison. Given the opportunity, we believe they can become successful, contributing — and valued — members of our community. All it takes is a solid chance to begin again.
• Catholic Charities: A regular paycheck is a powerful — and necessary — thing.But, today’s job market is extremely competitive. If you’re jobless today, there’s a very good chance you need to learn new skills, seek additional educational opportunities or pursue industry certifications.But, it doesn’t stop there. You also probably need training in job-seeking, job-keeping and job-advancing skills too. That includes everything from resume-building to interviewing techniques and advice on how to ask for and get the raise or promotion when the time is right.That’s why our services for job seekers focus on delivering one-on-one support to help you in find — and keep — the right job for your long-term success.Services include:
  • Employment preparation
  • Resume development
  • Job search strategies
  • Interviewing techniques
  • Networking opportunities
  • Financial education
  • Seniors at Work job training and placement for adults age 55 and older

  Employment can empower and transform. We’re here to help you.

• Connections to Success (Jeff Lee, Reentry Liaison) At Connections, we provide a comprehensive network of services and support to help people living in poverty become economically self-sufficient. Our model, with lifelong mentoring at its core, delivers evidence-based results and impacts all areas of a person’s life.
• The Gateway Foundation Gateway Foundation, a trusted non-profit leader providing drug treatment and alcohol treatment in correctional treatment settings since 1968, currently operates treatment programs for men, women, adolescents, special needs, and dual diagnosis clients involved in the criminal justice system.
• The Help KC: The Help(KC) is a registered 501C3 non for profit organization. We are a gender-specific entity that primarily focuses on assisting women who were formerly incarcerated and or have a felony conviction(s).We offer rentry initiatives to women in an effort to reduce recidivism through the following strategies: Employment & Employment Readiness, Health & Wellness and Women Empowerment sessions and we also promote a holistic approach to challenges with reentry.
• Aim4Peace: Aim4Peace (Aim for Peace) is a public health approach to reduce shootings and homicides. Aim4Peace uses highly-trained violence interrupters and outreach staff, public education campaigns, Neighborhood Action Teams and community mobilization to reverse the violence epidemic in Kansas City, Missouri. Aim4Peace focuses on the neighborhood factors that most often contribute to violence, helping those who are considered at highest risk of committing offenses due to their living or employment situation.
• 12th Street Heritage: The Mission: To provide quality, stable, and affordable housing through real estate development and housing rehabilitation, and to improve the quality of life for residentsThe Vision: To create a healthy neighborhood where quality housing is available, where residents walk the streets and use the parks with a feeling of safety, and where involved citizens chart their own destiny.
• Children of Incarcerated Parents, Barbara Courtney, Director:  C.O.I.P. Inc has the ambitious goal of providing life skills such as financial budgeting. Other services include anti-bullying workshops, prevention and intervention for drugs/alcohol, sexual/physical abuses, domestic violences, individual and group counseling, and peer to peer/adult mentoring to our at risk children and children of incarcerated parents.​We will be providing transportation to children whose parents are incarcerated to visit their parent(s), attend cultural arts, assist with holiday shopping, and other fun family events. Our help to children of incarcerated parents will come from fundraising events and the community.
• Corizon – List of all resources

National Resources

• Exoffender Jobs
• Resources for Ex-Offenders
• National Reentry Resource Center
• Fair Shake
• Help for Felons

Felon Jobs

Felon Jobs Resources

Career One Stop

• Find resources to assist with reentry
• Understand your money
• Obtain free financial coaching
• Access emergency services
• Learn about employment opportunities at the Full Employment Council, H&R Block Business and Career Center and Workforce Partnership
• Find a place to live

A wide range of support, including Reentry, is also available available through United Way 2-1-1

Call: (816) 474-5112 or
toll free at (866) 320-5764

Visit: United Way 2-1-1