On July 12, 2016, the D.C. Council passed the Incarceration to Incorporation Entrepreneurship Program (IIEP), DC Law 21-159. The IIEP would provide entrepreneurship opportunities for returning citizens such as a General Equivalency Diploma program; college courses in entrepreneurship; apprenticeship training; leadership and character development; financial literacy instruction; and the availability of access to capital.
The IIEP is a successful model of entrepreneurship. Similar programs regularly change the lives of returning citizens. For example, Raising Tide Capital helps individuals start and grow businesses; Prison Entrepreneurship Program (PEP) strives to promote innovation through career development, education, and mentoring, and Defy Ventures supports employment, entrepreneurship and personal and leadership development. For more information about the Incarceration to Incorporation Program, go to our website, www.coalition159.com.
Despite the bill passing unanimously by the council, the Mayor refused to fund the measure in her last two budgets with the council following suit. This year, myself and the other members of Coalition 159, who’ve been fighting to get this bill passed and funded, felt confident that the council would fund the program this year. Both Councilmember Elissa Silverman, chair of the Labor and Workforce Development Committee and Kenyan McDuffie, chair of the Committee on Business and Economic Development, had expressed support, leading us to believe that they would do what they could to fund the program. Unfortunately, we were wrong.
As this legislation was being voted on in the committee, Councilmember Silverman expressed, “I really think this entrepreneurship program is a creative approach …. I think we as a District government need to think of all the ways in which we can engage our returning citizens. … I think this is a bill that will take a first step toward looking at how we address the entrepreneurship issue, ….”
Councilmember McDuffie, who chairs the Committee on Business and Economic Development, said during his April 11, 2018 hearing, “I think there are far too many returning citizens who lack opportunities in traditional employment. But I’d like to think there are some things the city can do more of around entrepreneurship for people who are returning from periods of incarceration.” Furthermore, he expressed that, “if you look at $14.5 billion total budget, $100,000 in a year, is a fraction of what we should be investing to try to help these people successfully integrate.”
The one-hundred million plus $50,000 was the funding the Mayor budget for the Aspire to Entrepreneurship program. What’s more, Coalition 159 developed budget estimates for how much the IIEP would cost over four years that were 55% and 65% lower than the council’s $4.7 million financial impact of the IIEP. Despite this and despite the praise for our program, there was still no consideration for start-up funding.
In Silverman’s committee hearing on April 18, instead of addressing why her position had seemingly changed with respect to the IIEP, she suggested I contact the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC) because they supposedly had money available to fund entrepreneurship for returning citizens. To the contrary, Councilmember Robert White shared that “that funding did not have an impact on IIEP”. But, even if we were to have received outside funding, which we had been pursuing, we still would’ve needed additional start-up funding from the government. Ms. Silverman apparently didn’t seek to identify any funding for the IIEP nor mention any coalition testimony in her committee’s report. For example, in the committee’s 2018 report, it mentioned “finding ways to assist returning citizens reenter the workforce and find employment that gives them access to a reliable career path is one of the most important issues in workforce development on the District.”
We even appeared before the Committee on Judiciary and Public Safety in hopes that chairperson Charles Allen would have brought that “new sense of urgency and creativity” he talked about “to how we support returning citizens get their feet on the ground.” Unfortunately, we didn’t see that sense of urgency from him as it relates to the IIEP in this budget cycle nor the last.
Since the IIEP was passed without funding for the second fiscal year, it’s subject to repeal in Fiscal Year 2020. We wonder why the mayor, nor the council has showed any sincere interest in funding this highly successful program model of entrepreneurship for returning citizens.
At the April 28 hearing, former director of Court Services and Offender Supervisor Agency (CSOSA), Nancy Ware, testified in support of the IIEP. Ms. Ware said that she’s witnessed the success that opportunities for self-sufficiency offered individuals to become productive tax paying citizens of the city. There was a substantial decline in the percentages of individuals revoked to incarceration, an increase in the successful completion of supervision, and decreased rearrest rates”
We must ask ourselves, why did the council vote unanimously to approve the IIEP legislation but not make funding it a priority? Is it because we already have the Aspire program? Or is it because the IIEP has the potential to generate $10 million dollars in the operation of an entrepreneurship program in which returning citizens would primarily benefit? I surmise that the answer is the same as why the Mayor’s Office of Returning Citizen Affairs (MORCA) has be so terribly underfunded and understaffed since as far back as 2015. The Mayor’s budget doesn’t truly reflect the needs of returning citizen as a priority of her administration.
We believe returning citizens should be a priority in the District because, “on average, half of the men and women who come under the criminal justice system in DC are unemployed at any given time ….” Even more so, according to Ms. Ware, “those who are unemployed, slightly more than half of them are actually employable.” Obviously, it’s more beneficial to employ our residents because crime generates substantial costs to society. Programs that directly or indirectly prevent crime can generate substantial economic benefits by reducing crime-related costs incurred by victims, communities, and the criminal justice system. Moreover, programs like RTC, Defy and potentially IIEP, yield high return on investment through low recidivism rates; job creation; increased income; and businesses launched with high survival rates.
I believe we have an opportunity to change the course of this city in this election for the better. But you must educate yourself and vote. I was at a Returning Citizens forum and heard a candidate say, “… and I’d fund the Incarceration to Incorporation Entrepreneurship Program (IIEP).” These processes should ensure that the right questions are asked as it pertains to the IIEP. In other words, why have those who’ve been on the council the last two years, and voted unanimously to pass the IIEP, failed to fund the program? And, since the law is to be repealed in the third year after enactment, what are the candidates plans to ensure it is funded and not repealed next year?
We’ve encouraged our supporters to intensify their efforts until the council records their final vote on the budget. In other words, it’s not over till it’s over. This year, it’s truly not over till it’s over. On June 19th D.C. voters will select nominees for council chairman, two at-large council seats and four ward level council seats. Many of the current council, including McDuffie, Silverman and Charles Allen, will have their seats challenged. Some of those challengers, like candidate for chairman Ed Lazere, support funding the IIEP. Before you vote, The Coalition engages you to research the candidates and ensure your vote is for someone who will truly champion legislation for your communities.
You can exercise your vote to select those who you believe will alter the direction of the budget process in FY2020 to fund those priorities our communities feel provide a real “fair shot” for them. Remember, it’s not over till you say it’s over with your vote.
Kevin Smith is an advocate for returning citizens. In his recent efforts to get funding for the IIEP, he coordinated advocacy for the Working Coalition to Fund the IIEP. His views expressed here are his own and doesn’t reflect any members or supporters of the Working Coalition.
I have a question and this might sound ignorant but it been a thought in my head for awhile now. How can we as Black people keep continuing to vote Democrat and look at areas where Democrats run. Ward 8 is horrible… filled with public housing and people keep calling Ward 8 the poorest area in the District. I am not poor, My neighbors are not poor. People choose to be poor. If Ward 1-6 can change, Ward 8 is in much need of change.
Now back to the voting thing. It seem like Democrats take from the poor. Republicans are not better, but they demand better. Democrats keep putting these programs in place and they know it will not help and a year or 2 later the program is not funded or ran out out of money. Where is the money? Why haven’t Ward 8 got better? It is only ran by Democrats… I have lived in Ward 8 since 1969 and the very little change is not where Ward 8 should be. So to tell people to Vote is a slap in the face because voting for a democrat at this point is pointless.
Hello Terrel,
I can relate to your frustration. However, I think it’s important to look at each issue separately. If you are not deeply involved in creating legislation, passing legislation or even implementing policy, then it’s easy to come to the conclusion that there’s a group of Democrats or a group of Republicans that’s making all the decisions. It’s not that simple, especially on a local level. A lot of the legislation that passes and gets implemented is initiated not by politicians but by corporate lobbyists who have a financial interest in seeing that government follows a specific course. In the District, a lot of policy is influenced by real estate developers who want to see things like dog parks and street cars go up at tax payer expense because they believe these things will attract wealthier tenants to the neighborhoods where they own the apartments. Something like the Incarceration to Incorporation Entrepreneurship Program is backed by returning citizens. Yes, you have a group of Democrats who initially backed it, but because there aren’t any big corporations behind the legislation, those same Democrats are unwilling to fund it. Now if, there were some more progressive Democrats on the City Council instead of what we have, then a program like this might get the funding that it needs. If we don’t vote for the representatives who will actually represent our interests instead of the interests of the developers who can back their campaigns financially, then Ward 8 will not change for the better.
I’m heading to the polls today because I don’t want to give up what little power I do have. But I also recognize that voting isn’t the only way to create the change that you want to see in your community. I hope I’ll see you at the Juneteenth Celebration on Saturday.