Mission and core values
Dedicated to helping those in reentry
Our Mission
Jails to Jobs is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to equipping previously incarcerated and soon-to-be released men and women with the tools and resources needed to find employment and successfully re-enter the workforce.
Our Core Values
- Open mindedness — giving up fixed ideas.
- Presence — meeting people where they are without judgment.
- Appropriate response — how can we best help and serve?
Who we are
Our board of directors
Mark Drevno
Mark Drevno is an entrepreneur, social innovator and the founder and executive director of Jails to Jobs. After hiring a formerly incarcerated man as a sales rep many years ago, Mark was inspired to volunteer as a job search coach in jails and prisons, ultimately creating a nonprofit that supports this work. Since 2012, he and his organization have presented workshops to more than 5,000 soon-to-be-released incarcerated men and women, equipping them with the tools and resources they need to successfully re-enter the workforce. In addition, Mark and his organization have published two books, “Jails to Jobs, Seven Steps to Becoming Employed ” and “Tattoo Removal: Establishing a Free or Low-Cost Community Based Program: A How-to Guide.” He makes his home in the San Francisco Bay area and, when not working, enjoys hiking, reading, and spending time with his family.
Judy Jacobs
Judy Jacobs is a communications professional whose interest in prisons and prisoners began when her DePauw University winter term project took her to four prisons in Indiana, where she met with inmates and debated incarceration issues with her professors and fellow students. Since then, she’s been a community organizer, Asian freelance correspondent, magazine and newspaper editor in Hong Kong and the U.S., and a public relations and marketing copywriter. When she’s not working Judy likes to take long walks, travel anywhere the road (or an airplane) will take her, read, try new recipes and spend time with family and friends.
Peter Drevno
Peter Drevno is a fundraising professional who finds deep satisfaction in aligning the interests of individuals, corporations, and foundations with causes they care about. To Peter, Jails to Jobs brings a much needed element of hope to our society and to our fellow citizens who are frequently forgotten or left behind. In his volunteer role, Peter offers guidance on fundraising strategy as well as serving as a general resource for the well-being of the organization’s future. He enjoys spending as much of his spare time as possible with his family and friends, and being outside.
Jails to Jobs is a member of the Global Homeboy Network. Founded by Father Greg Boyle, GHN annually brings together organizations and social enterprises from around the world and supports them as they connect, collaborate and learn from Homeboy Industries and each other. The participants from these independent organizations serve as change agents in their service to those at the margins of society, including people leaving prison, formerly gang-involved or those who have been trafficked.
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Contact Information
Jails to Jobs, Inc.
3641 Mount Diablo Blvd., #1164
Lafayette, CA 94549
Email Us
What we do
Educate, inform, connect and assist
Jails to Jobs, a Section 501(c)(3) nonprofit, is an organization that gives previously incarcerated and soon-to–be-released men and women the tools they need to find employment. It educates and informs this population through workshops in jails and prisons in Northern California, the information included on its website and through its book, “Jails to Jobs: Seven Steps to Becoming Employed.” The organization operates its own free anti-social, gang-related, human trafficking, and intimate partner violence (IPV) tattoo removal program in the San Francisco Bay Area. It also maintains a searchable directory of free and low-cost tattoo removal programs across the U.S. that now has more than 300 programs in 42 states. In answer to a need for more programs, Jails to Jobs has published Tattoo Removal: Establishing a Free or Low-Cost Community-Based Program: A How-to Guide, as part of its efforts to help to create and establish more programs. It is happy to provide technical assistance, as needed, and a complimentary copy of its how-to guide to any organization wanting to create or improve a community- based tattoo removal program.