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April marks Second Chance Month, and a local event Saturday focused on turning past barriers into new beginnings for formerly incarcerated individuals.
Organizers aimed to tackle obstacles that keep people from rebuilding their lives after incarceration, such as record-based employment bans, unstable housing and untreated mental health or substance-use issues.
The event was designed not just for support, but to break stigmas and open doors that have too often been closed.
"They face barriers to housing, barriers to employment, barriers to healthcare, and now they’re business owners," Candance Wesson said.
Wesson, the executive director of HelpKC, said many of these new business owners are now paying it forward to people whose shoes they were once in.
"We also have vendors that, like SPA, are here for capital. Like for individuals that want to become an entrepreneur, but don’t know how — we have that as well," Wesson said.
One of the organizations present was Strategic Workforce Development, which is set to open the first AI lab to help underserved communities in Kansas City.
"We got AI teaching AI," said York Wilson, director of Strategic Workforce Development. "We have also made our own software that’s going to teach this. And once this software has been launched, we’re going to offer it to other nonprofits."
There were also programs on site that help people do the work before they are released from prison.
"Reentry starts on the inside of the prison in itself, because once they come out here, it’s kind of like a ball game. Everything happens, life hits them," said Kardell Sims, founder of On the Inside Reentry Academy.
State representatives also attended the event to support the cause.
"I think that they can do so much at a huge magnitude," State Rep. Michael Johnson said. "Because they have actually been through a process where they have had to not only reinvent themselves, but to understand what they did and to grow from it."
The event took place from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Gregg/Klice Community Center in Kansas City, Missouri.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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