Over the past two years, Jails to Jobs has given a free copy of its book, Jails to Jobs: Seven Steps to Becoming Employed, to every jail library in California and to many libraries in prisons and jails across the country. And now it wants to offer a free copy to any prison or jail school or associated reentry program in the country that requests one.
According to many people we’ve heard from and reviews on Amazon, the book is a very helpful resource for those preparing to reenter society or who have already done so.
Jeff Riddick, a teacher at a California correctional facility, is one of those who finds it a good tool. In fact, he told us that when his prison first received the book, he read it every day and still uses it as his main job search reference. And that’s pretty impressive, considering the fact that he began teaching job search skills classes in the 1980s.
“There’s a lot of very useful information that, if applied, can lead you to success. I read it for a while every day. I’d pick a page and read it,” he says. “I keep it with me in the portfolio I carry around all day, and when a guy asks me a question, I pull it out.”
And why does Riddick like it? “It has a lot of positive up-to-date info, as much as a book can have. It’s small, condensed, and not intimidating. It’s a good primer and a good thing to go back to use as a reference,” he says. “The chapters are highlighted which makes it easy to find things. A higher functioning guy, who reads at an 8th or 9th grade level, can get a lot of use out of it. And others as well, with the simplicity of the boxes and the info in the appendices.”
“Every page provides some kind of tip that anyone can use. And to me that’s the most important thing.”
Who can get a free book and how they can get it
Because he has found our book so useful, we’ve decided to expand our giveaway program to more people like Riddick. These people can be teachers at schools within jails and prisons that include job search in their curriculum or plan to, or associated reentry service coordinators like Ken Bailor with Riverside (Calif.) ReEntry Services. They can also be librarians.
If you’re a prison or jail school teacher or reentry counselor offering job search curriculum and coaching, or plan to, or a jail or prison librarian anywhere in the U.S., feel free to contact us for a complimentary copy of Jails to Jobs: Seven Steps to Becoming Employed. We’ll also include a free PowerPoint presentation that will allow you to offer workshops based on the book.
We hope to place a complimentary copy of the book and PowerPoint presentation into as many jail and prison schools, reentry programs, and lending libraries as possible. And with 1,719 state prisons, 102 federal prisons and 3,163 local jails, we clearly have our work cut out for us.
We look forward to hearing from you.
