Mirror Indy22%
Workforce groups get $10.2M in federal grants for reentry employment 28%
By Claire Rafford28%
7/22/2026, 9:31:54 PM
BS Summary: This article contains 14 faulty reasoning types, including Hasty Generalization, Appeal to Emotion, and Unattributed Quote, with Optimism Bias as the most egregious example at 22.8% saturation with 105 hits. Analysis detected 523 faulty-reasoning hits from 461 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 39.2% and a BS Rank of 28% (14,548 of 20,094 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 72.40% of the article peer group.
More formerly incarcerated Hoosiers could soon get job training and credentials through new federal funding.
The U.S.
Department of Labor awarded two grants each worth $5.1 million to the Indiana Department of Workforce Development and Keys2Work, RecycleForce and 2nd Chance Indiana.
The federal RESTART grants — which stands for Reentry Employment in Skilled Trades, Advanced Manufacturing, Registered Apprenticeships, and Training — will fund the agency’s and nonprofits’ efforts to provide training in skilled trades for people being released from prison or jail.
Indianapolis-based nonprofit Keys2Work is working with its sister organization RecycleForce , as well as 2nd Chance Indiana, to train formerly incarcerated people between the ages of 18 and 24.
That program, which Keys2Work is calling “Developing the Work Muscle,” will provide training to 680 people over three years in seven counties, including Marion County.
RecycleForce will provide employment in Indianapolis, and 2nd Chance Indiana will work in Tipton, Howard, Kosciusko, Dekalb, Elkhart and Noble counties.
“We’re going to show you how to work by asking you to work and giving you the grace to fail and to try again,” said Gina Davis , Keys2Work’s senior director, “in an environment where they are surrounded by peers and peer leaders who have been on the same journeys they are on.”
In Indianapolis, RecycleForce provides transitional employment, meaning short-term paid work that’s designed to help people reentering society get the experience and skills needed for the workplace.
The nonprofit uses what’s called the “ABC” model — any job, better job, career.
“We have individuals that start in the ‘any’ job, but we’re able to place them in the better job with Keys2Work,” said Tiana Johnson, RecycleForce’s chief operating officer.
Through Keys2Work, employees can also get credentials , from entry-level safety certifications to hazardous waste management training.
While program length is flexible for each participant, most workers will spend about three months in transitional employment before moving on to another job or getting further training, Davis said.
“We give people their full time, their full opportunity to spend as much time here as they want,” Davis said.
“It’s very important that we’re always customizing a person’s experience based upon their needs.”
Keys2Work plans to start enrolling workers — mostly through referrals from the Indiana Department of Corrections — before Oct.
1.
While Keys2Work’s grant will provide training to young people, the Indiana Department of Workforce Development’s funding will support training, employment and apprenticeship opportunities for formerly incarcerated adults aged 25 and older.
The majority of the state’s grant — about $4.3 million — will be distributed to local workforce boards throughout Indiana, which will in turn run training programs and supportive services.
In Indianapolis and Marion County, the workforce board is EmployIndy .
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