The Doe Fund Blog
When trainees enter Ready, Willing & Able, they are determined to change their lives through work. But finding a job after years of homelessness or incarceration is a daunting prospect. Ready, Willing & Able’s “Community Improvement Project” provides transitional work opportunities to trainees to help ease their re-entry into the workforce. For many, working as […]
Felipe Vargas is the Vice President of Programs at The Doe Fund. A 12-year veteran of the organization, he leads the day-to-day operations of The Doe Fund’s flagship Ready, Willing & Able program. We sat down with Felipe to learn more about his incredible story and how his team helps the Men in Blue succeed. […]
It has been 12 years, 7 months, and 23 days since Alvin Martinez first got sober in Ready, Willing & Able. Today, he works as an educator on The Doe Fund’s Workforce Development team. He thinks of each day that he stays clean as a milestone — a celebration of his new life. As a […]
Last Friday, filmmakers of the documentary Tre Maison Dasan shared their work with our trainees at The Peter Jay Sharp Center for Opportunity in Bushwick, Brooklyn. The film—an intimate portrait of three young boys, each with a parent in prison—unearthed many emotions from the viewers, many of whom have faced challenges of their own surrounding […]
Alexander Aiken seems destined for success. At 47 years old, he’s a confident, sharply dressed star student at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, where he’s gearing up for a career in law. But Alexander’s future wasn’t always this bright. Just six years ago, he was living on the streets of New York City, shaking […]
Finding a job after completing a prison sentence is absolutely crucial to successfully reentering society. But a new report from the Prison Policy Institute confirms what we’ve always known: that the structural barriers to finding work for folks coming home from prison are significant. According to the study, 27% of formerly incarcerated people are unemployed—that’s […]
Fifty years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his powerful “I Have a Dream” speech during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom While progress has been made, we have not come close to realizing this dream. New York City’s poverty rate is up to 21% percent in the poorest communities of every […]
For almost eight years, Joseph Calhoun has been an esteemed member of The Doe Fund family, and a role model for trainees and staff alike. With an eye on advancement, Joseph is a dynamic example of how far you can go if you let your passions and motivation guide you. Joseph entered The Harlem Center for Opportunity […]