{"id":1520,"date":"2024-09-19T15:18:35","date_gmt":"2024-09-19T19:18:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/clinics.law.harvard.edu\/tlc\/?p=1520"},"modified":"2024-09-19T15:18:35","modified_gmt":"2024-09-19T19:18:35","slug":"from-incarceration-to-entrepreneurship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/clinics.law.harvard.edu\/tlc\/from-incarceration-to-entrepreneurship\/","title":{"rendered":"From Incarceration to Entrepreneurship"},"content":{"rendered":"

[Originally published by Harvard Law Today, September 19, 2024]<\/a><\/p>\n

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A Boston-area collaboration supported by Harvard\u2019s Transactional Law Clinics is bringing business skills to returning citizens<\/h2>\n
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Credit: Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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Sep 19, 2024<\/div>\n
By Olivia Klein<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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When Wayne Lane finally returned home, the challenges ahead felt nearly insurmountable. Needing time to mentally heal from eighteen years in a Louisiana prison but also a stable, immediate income, Lane faced an uphill battle.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrying to transition from incarceration to society is no easy task,\u201d he says. \u201cIt takes faith and discipline.\u201d<\/p>\n

Back in Boston, Lane obtained his Commercial Driver\u2019s License, or CDL, ushering in a career that has given him the security he\u2019s strived for. Now, Lane is a homeowner, has completed his parole, and is hoping to help others in his position by starting his own business: Switching Lanes with Wayne, a course for people transitioning out of incarceration to help them obtain their own CDLs.<\/p>\n

A new collaboration between Harvard Law School\u2019s Transactional Law Clinics, First Step Alliance, and the City of Boston is working to give returning citizens like Lane a pathway to financial stability. The Fresh Start Entrepreneurship & Financial Capabilities Program<\/a> offers<\/a> returning citizens the education, mentoring, and legal assistance they need to start and run their own business. The initiative brings together entrepreneurship and money management training, providing comprehensive preparation for becoming a business owner.<\/p>\n

Lane joined the program last spring to learn the ins and outs of how to get Switching Lanes with Wayne off the ground. \u201cThe Fresh Start Program helped me out in ways you couldn\u2019t imagine,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Supporting financial stability and self-sufficiency<\/h2>\n

\u201cThis kind of training program helps people who are at the very beginning of dreaming about their business,\u201d says Carmen Halford<\/a>, lecturer at law and clinical instructor at Harvard Law. \u201cThey\u2019re just starting to figure out, how do I do this on a larger scale? How do I make this a sustainable income source for myself?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBecoming a business owner isn\u2019t just about financial stability; it\u2019s about regaining control and creating something of your own,\u201d adds Nancy Eiden, creator of the Fresh Start Entrepreneurship Program and founder of First Step Alliance<\/a>, a nonprofit dedicated to bringing financial education and access to banking services to returning citizens. \u201cOur Fresh Start Entrepreneurship Program helps people transform their dream of business ownership into reality. Whether it\u2019s learning how to create a business plan or understanding important personal finance concepts, such as budgeting and credit building, we provide the resources and support people need to create a path forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dreaming after incarceration can be difficult, says Lane. As an activist advocating for returning citizens, he felt called to turn his experience into an education for people facing the challenges he once overcame. \u201cMy vision widened, and I decided I wanted to open a CDL driving school. Fresh Start helped me put that business plan into action.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Wayne Lane (center) with members of his CDL certification class, Switching Lanes with Wayne<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n
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For individuals returning to society after incarceration, a steady income can feel far out of reach. Little social support exists for returning citizens, while there are an increasing number of barriers to successful reentry; even the luckiest of returning citizens can face challenges securing housing and addressing employment discrimination, mental health, a lack of credit, and often a drastically altered social network than the one they left behind. Being a business owner can provide crucial stability, income, and opportunities.<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

About 3,000 individuals return to Boston after incarceration each year. At the Transactional Law Clinics, Halford wanted to find more ways to bring the clinic\u2019s expertise to this population. \u201cWe want to make sure that the projects we\u2019re taking on are working to build a more sustainable and equitable community here in Cambridge, in Boston, in Massachusetts,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

The clinics\u2019 involvement in the Fresh Start Entrepreneurship Program stems from a broader mission to promote economic justice. Halford elaborates, \u201cWe see the role of a transactional attorney as not just making deals and moving money around, but to actually build wealth in communities that face systemic obstacles to growing it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Inspired by the Fresh Start Entrepreneurship Program, Halford is teaching a reading group this fall titled Second Chance Entrepreneurship, drawing on experiences working with returning citizens.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe see the role of a transactional attorney as not just making deals and moving money around, but to actually build wealth in communities that face systemic obstacles to growing it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Clinical Instructor Carmen Halford<\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n

The program\u2019s development began with conversations between Halford and Eiden: \u201cWe were talking about how there\u2019s a lot of overlap in our missions, and entrepreneurship was a natural area where we felt like we could collaborate,\u201d Halford says. Recognizing the complexity of starting a business, the two sought to create a comprehensive support system \u2014 covering everything from guidance on how to write a business plan to explaining the pros and cons between an LLC and a corporation.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt First Step Alliance, we understand that financial stability and self-sufficiency are key to successful reentry, yet returning citizens often face systemic discrimination and can be completely shut out of mainstream banking and meaningful employment opportunities,\u201d explains Eiden. \u201cThrough our Fresh Start Programs and proposed new credit union initiative, we\u2019re working to bridge this gap, helping returning citizens create an alternative path to income and wealth creation through business ownership, as well as improving access to affordable financial services.\u201d<\/p>\n

The program brought in additional partners, including Reentry Survivors<\/a>, an organization that provides individuals returning from the justice system\u00a0with skills for a successful reintegration into society. The Boston Public Library joined in to provide Chromebooks to each program participant in exchange for signing up for a library card.<\/p>\n

Boston calling<\/h2>\n

The Boston Mayor\u2019s Office of Returning Citizens<\/a> has also been an instrumental collaborator, providing crucial funding, outreach, and support, including $500 grants to each participant as starting capital. Ashley Montgomery, its executive director, says that the partnership was a natural fit. \u201cA lot of our clients want to go into entrepreneurship for a multitude of reasons, and we wanted to provide a resource to clients interested in starting their own businesses,\u201d she explains.<\/p>\n

Rechelle Hypolite, the office\u2019s director of programming and strategic initiatives, adds, \u201cFor our clients to have a direct pipeline of folks that can really support them and tell them, \u2018Hey, either I\u2019ve done this before, or I\u2019ve seen this before and know this process, and I can help you along the way,\u2019 that\u2019s really important.\u201d<\/p>\n

The program addresses several critical barriers faced by returning citizens, particularly in areas of employment and housing. Hypolite says that it is difficult for people with low credit scores to find a place to live. \u201cHaving access to programs and support like Fresh Start and other initiatives through our office allows people to access opportunities that will really stabilize their lives,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

The Fresh Start Program\u2019s structure includes business skills trainings, money management trainings, and legal presentations over the course of six ninety-minute sessions. This spring was the program\u2019s pilot year and included a legal presentation by students from Harvard\u2019s Transactional Law Clinics. Looking ahead, the program\u2019s organizers are exploring ways to expand its reach and impact, and a second, shorter version of the program is starting up later this month.<\/p>\n

Halford is contemplating plans for future in-person legal training sessions, potentially including student involvement in intake processes to help program participants become clients. For future cohorts, First Step Alliance aspires to offer small loans to program graduates to help kick start their businesses, and build their credit histories, but that is contingent on fundraising.<\/p>\n

Harvard Law students on the vanguard<\/h2>\n

As students in the clinics, Ian Malesiewski \u201925 and Nicky Yoon \u201925 worked with Halford to interview returning citizen entrepreneurs and to solicit their feedback; to create a presentation explaining legal considerations for starting a business; and to facilitate a Q&A session with attorneys.<\/p>\n

\u201cI learned the extent of the structural barriers that returning citizens face when it comes to entrepreneurship,\u201d reflects Yoon. \u201cAs such, our work felt especially pressing and significant, as one of those barriers is a lack of access to knowledge, whether legal, financial, or otherwise. The existence of the Fresh Start Entrepreneurship Program was an encouraging indication of societal efforts to empower returning citizens, and I hope the program continues to grow.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThroughout the project, it became evident that most of the individuals in the cohort were starting from scratch and didn\u2019t have a lot of support with starting their businesses,\u201d adds Malesiewski. \u201cIt was extremely rewarding to help bridge this information divide and help provide them with information they needed to earn a living.\u201d<\/p>\n

Switching Lanes with Wayne<\/h2>\n

For Lane, the Fresh Start Entrepreneurship Program provided more than just business skills.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt gave me a lot of confidence, for one,\u201d he explains. \u201cIt helped me with the beginning stages of my business, and being able to interact with other students allowed me to get comfortable doing presentations and put my business plan in place.\u201d Other classmates also had business ideas aiming to help returning citizens get back on their feet, and Lane plans to continue collaborating with them in the future.<\/p>\n

Already, the program is building momentum. \u201cIn the next cohort coming up, we\u2019ve literally doubled our numbers since the last time we sent out the flyers,\u201d says Hypolite. \u201cOne of my former clients had heard about the program through friends, and he is finally able to join this fall and is so excited. There\u2019s a real sense of community building around it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The collaboration demonstrates the potential for innovative partnerships in addressing a shared goal: economic empowerment for returning citizens. By combining legal expertise, business training, and government support, the program is creating new pathways for returning citizens to rebuild their lives and contribute to their communities.<\/p>\n

Lane\u2019s advice to other returning citizens considering entrepreneurship reflects the program\u2019s ethos. \u201cJust continue that faith, make sure you have the necessary discipline in your life, and continue to stay focused,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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