Entrepreneurial training for prison leavers
Entrepreneurial training for prison leavers
Author
Introduction
Over 80,000 people in England and Wales are in prison, with over 40,000 released each year. Re-offending rates range from 30% to 67% during their first year out (depending on their demographic and offence). The overall cost of re-offending is estimated by the Ministry of Justice to be over £18 billion per annum. Of those being released from custody, less than 20% are employed 6 weeks after release, and earning an income is one of the critical factors for reducing the risk of re-offending.
2022 Award
David Morgan (CF 2018) is the founder and Director of Entrepreneurs Unlocked CIC, which he set up in 2019 as a result of his Fellowship. Entrepreneurs Unlocked enables people in custody to develop their entrepreneurial talent and give them a crime-free future and has helped over 300 people since it was founded. Supported by two of our Covid-19 Action Fund grants, David has already developed an online programme of resources to help prison leavers set up as self-employed.
David has been awarded one of our Activate grants to build upon this work and set up a business incubator in the Greater Manchester area, which will support 25 prison-leavers to set up as self-employed over a 15-month period. It will focus on developing their entrepreneurial talent, particularly around craft skills, enabling them to upcycle and produce items for sale such as second-hand furniture, garden products and pieces of art. The funding will cover renting a space to run the programme and produce the items; supplying the participants with laptops and tools; working with a partner organisation to provide training and craft skills development; and providing a stipend for David to cover his costs in developing the programme and working with the prison and probation service to identify participants.
Through this new initiative, David hopes to equip prison leavers with new skills and confidence to develop their own businesses or gain employment. He will evaluate the programme with the aim of making it replicable and scalable.
David’s Fellowship explored entrepreneurial opportunities for people with convictions and was supported by the Rank Foundation.
2022 Award
David Morgan (CF 2018) is the founder and Director of Entrepreneurs Unlocked CIC, which he set up in 2019 as a result of his Fellowship. Entrepreneurs Unlocked enables people in custody to develop their entrepreneurial talent and give them a crime-free future and has helped over 300 people since it was founded. Supported by two of our Covid-19 Action Fund grants, David has already developed an online programme of resources to help prison leavers set up as self-employed.
David has been awarded one of our Activate grants to build upon this work and set up a business incubator in the Greater Manchester area, which will support 25 prison-leavers to set up as self-employed over a 15-month period. It will focus on developing their entrepreneurial talent, particularly around craft skills, enabling them to upcycle and produce items for sale such as second-hand furniture, garden products and pieces of art. The funding will cover renting a space to run the programme and produce the items; supplying the participants with laptops and tools; working with a partner organisation to provide training and craft skills development; and providing a stipend for David to cover his costs in developing the programme and working with the prison and probation service to identify participants.
Through this new initiative, David hopes to equip prison leavers with new skills and confidence to develop their own businesses or gain employment. He will evaluate the programme with the aim of making it replicable and scalable.
David’s Fellowship explored entrepreneurial opportunities for people with convictions and was supported by the Rank Foundation.