Sunday, August 29, 2010

Ex-offenders: An Untapped Labor Source

When you think of the word untapped, or tapping, it generally relates to the acquisition of a valuable resource. Its value has to exceed the cost of its acquisition, in order to make the harvesting feasible. The value comes from a well defined market for the product.

Consider oil. Oil is a very valuable resource. Wars have been fought and lives lost over it. Oil exists in places beneath the earth’s surface in places that are hard to find, and even harder to reach. And it is only found by people that are intentionally looking for it because they know the value of it.

After the resource has been found, it then must be acquired, tapped. It takes skilled people to harvest the raw material. That is what the Reentry Service Providers do. We find the resource and harvest it. We break through the tough surface and reach the resource. It isn’t easy and it isn’t cheap, but the value of the commodity greatly exceeds the cost of acquisition.

The Gulf Coast oil spill is an example of the potential danger in tapping. If it is done by individuals that are untrained or by those that do not see the value of the resource, disaster will strike and that valuable commodity will become a natural disaster. It will turn from a valuable resource, to a hazard to the ecosystem and anything in its vicinity.

After the commodity has been located and harvested, it then must be refined. The impurities must be removed, and it must be transformed into a substance that can be consumed. The materials that are taught in our classes do just that. Our lessons remove the negative thinking of our clients and replace it with the tools that are necessary to succeed.

Our job, the Reentry Service Provider, is to locate the commodity, harvest it, refine it and get it to a gas station near you, so that it can be consumed. Oil on a tanker does no one any good. But after it has gone through the cycle, it then becomes one of the world’s most sought after materials.

Ex-offenders are just like oil. They are a group with much potential. After completing a program, they then become a valuable commodity. But society must be informed of the value. We must find innovative ways to market our product and find innovative uses for our product. The possibilities are endless. Let’s make it happen!

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