The Last Mile (TLM) provides in-prison technology education and post-incarceration mentorship to justice-involved people across the United States. The organization, a
501(c)(3)
A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of the 29 types of 50 ...
nonprofit, originated in 2010 at
San Quentin State Prison
San Quentin State Prison (SQ) is a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation state prison for men, located north of San Francisco in the unincorporated place of San Quentin in Marin County.
Opened in July 1852, San Quentin is the ...
,
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
,
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
with the
California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) is the penal law enforcement agency of the government of California responsible for the operation of the California state prison and parole systems. Its headquarters are in Sacrame ...
, and works with state-level correctional facilities for men, women, and youth. The Last Mile’s mission is to reduce the rate of recidivism in the US by teaching marketable skills inside prisons, helping participants qualify for and secure gainful employment after incarceration. Six states have active partnerships with The Last Mile (California, Indiana, Kansas, Oklahoma, Michigan, and North Dakota).
History
The Last Mile began on December 18, 2010 as a result of Chris Redlitz and Beverly Parenti visiting a business class at San Quentin State Prison. The program was founded to address the rate of
recidivism
Recidivism (; from ''recidive'' and ''ism'', from Latin ''recidīvus'' "recurring", from ''re-'' "back" and ''cadō'' "I fall") is the act of a person repeating an undesirable behavior after they have experienced negative consequences of th ...
in America by empowering people who are incarcerated with the skills needed to succeed in today’s job market.
Entrepreneurship
The Last Mile was initially modeled as a pro bono
startup accelerator
Startup accelerators, also known as seed accelerators, are fixed-term, cohort-based programs, that include mentorship and educational components and culminate in a public pitch event or demo day. While traditional business incubators are often g ...
inside San Quentin with restrictions imposed to meet prison security protocols. With mentorship from Redlitz and Parenti, each participant conceptualized a business, developed a business plan, and prepared a business pitch. In May 2012, the inaugural TLM Demo Day was held at San Quentin State Prison with six program graduates pitching their startup ideas in front of 350+ business and tech C-Suite executives, entrepreneurs, government officials, and news organizations.
Computer Coding
In 2014, The Last Mile launched its
coding program, the first fully inclusive computer programming curriculum available in a US prison, in partnership with the
California Prison Industry Authority
The California Prison Industry Authority (CALPIA) manages over 100 manufacturing, service, and consumable industries within the 35 California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) institutions. It is overseen by the 11-member Prison ...
. Code.3730 was implemented at San Quentin as a career training program with the goal of teaching students to become software engineers, improving their opportunities for self-sustaining employment when they returned home. It has since evolved to become The Last Mile’s Web Development program.
Expansion
After launching at San Quentin State Prison, The Last Mile continued expanding amongst California’s correctional facilities for men, women, and youth. In 2018, The Last Mile launched in Indiana and has since expanded to Oklahoma, Kansas, and Michigan.
The Last Mile focuses on implementing its program at the state level with a combination of public and private funding.
Locations
Programs
TLM utilizes a custom-built remote instruction software and Learning Management System (LMS) to deliver educational programming into correctional facilities across the country. The organization’s staff creates and delivers course content with coordination support from classroom facilitators, who oversee students’ daily activity in person.
In-Prison Education
* Web Development Program -- A 12 month coding program in which students learn full stack software engineering using a platform that simulates the internet. The course curriculum includes web development fundamentals, such as HTML, CSS, JavaScript, jQuery, and Bootstrap, as well as MERN, a
software stack
In computing, a solution stack or software stack is a set of software subsystems or components needed to create a complete platform such that no additional software is needed to support applications. Applications are said to "run on" or "run on t ...
that includes four open-source technologies: MongoDB, Express.js, React, and Node.js.
Reentry Mentorship
* Career development -- Support in areas such as resume writing, interview prep, and soft skill building.
* Job placement support -- Connections to apprenticeship and employment opportunities, as well job search assistance.
* Alumni community -- Access to TLM’s network of alumni who share and discuss common obstacles and goals in the reentry process, particularly relating to career development.
Impact
Second-Chance Hiring
The Last Mile is regarded by advocates of both prison reform and workplace diversity, as the program's results have proven to reduce recidivism and mobilize nontraditional career pathways. After decades of incarceration, alumni have been hired by Slack, GoodRx, Zoom, Dropbox, Adobe, the
Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI),
VMware
VMware, Inc. is an American cloud computing and virtualization technology company with headquarters in Palo Alto, California. VMware was the first commercially successful company to virtualize the x86 architecture.
VMware's desktop software ru ...
,
Fandom
A fandom is a subculture composed of fans characterized by a feeling of empathy and camaraderie with others who share a common interest. Fans typically are interested in even minor details of the objects of their fandom and spend a significant ...
, and Checkr, among other companies, after becoming qualified full stack developers through TLM's in-prison program.
Media coverage
The program has been covered in
Reuters
Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world.
The agency was estab ...
, ''
The Atlantic
''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science.
It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...
'',
BBC News
BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadca ...
,
ReadWriteWeb
ReadWrite (originally ReadWriteWeb or RWW) is a Web technology blog launched in 2003. RW covers Web 2.0 and Web technology in general, and provides industry news, reviews, and analysis. Founded by Richard MacManus, Technorati ranked ReadWriteWe ...
, ''
TechCrunch
TechCrunch is an American online newspaper focusing on high tech and startup companies. It was founded in June 2005 by Archimedes Ventures, led by partners Michael Arrington and Keith Teare.
In 2010, AOL acquired the company for approximately ...
'',
and other newspapers and magazines.
The program was also discussed by
Neil Cavuto
Neil Patrick Cavuto (born September 22, 1958) is an American television news anchor, executive, commentator, and business journalist for Fox News. He hosts three television programs: ''Your World with Neil Cavuto'' and '' Cavuto Live,'' both on F ...
in his TV show for the
Fox Business Network
Fox Business (officially known as Fox Business Network, or FBN) is an American business news channel and website publication owned by the Fox News Media division of Fox Corporation. The channel broadcasts primarily from studios at 1211 Avenue ...
.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Last Mile
San Quentin State Prison
United States educational programs
2011 establishments in California