Indiana is directing more than $10 million in newly awarded federal grants toward paid job training for formerly incarcerated residents, with organizations in Indianapolis and six other counties set to put hundreds of people to work starting on day one. The money comes from the U.S. Department of Labor's Reentry Employment in Skilled Trades, Advanced Manufacturing, Registered Apprenticeships, and Training program, known as RESTART, and splits evenly between a state agency and a coalition of nonprofits.
The U.S. Department of Labor awarded Indiana $10.2 million in RESTART funding in July, divided into two $5.1 million grants, according to Open Campus. One award goes to the Indiana Department of Workforce Development, which will administer expanded second-chance workforce training, while the other goes to lead grantee Keys2Work, working alongside RecycleForce and 2nd Chance Indiana, according to WFYI Public Media. Gov. Mike Braun visited RecycleForce in Indianapolis to tout the funding, saying he intends to scale up the number of people entering the workforce, especially those seeking a second chance.
A Three-Year Push Across Seven Counties
The $5.1 million grant to Keys2Work, RecycleForce and 2nd Chance Indiana funds a three-year initiative called Developing the Work Muscle, designed to provide paid training and transitional employment to 680 young adults ages 18 to 24. The program's reach extends well beyond Indianapolis: RecycleForce manages transitional job placements in the capital city, while 2nd Chance Indiana operates in Tipton, Howard, Kosciusko, DeKalb, Elkhart and Noble counties, per the same Open Campus report. Formerly incarcerated participants will earn money on their first day in the program and receive opportunities for direct referral, paid work and skills training through the grant, per WFYI.
Jannett Keesling, founder of Keys2Work, said the grant is essential to supporting the organization's work helping place formerly incarcerated citizens into full-time jobs, according to WFYI. Tiana Johnson, chief operating officer of RecycleForce, called the grant an important milestone for the electronic waste recycling operation, which has run for decades and recently opened a new facility on Indianapolis's near east side, per the same account.
Immediate Pay, Then a Career Path
RecycleForce structures its workforce pipeline around what it calls an ABC model — any job, better job, career — offering immediate paid e-waste recycling work on a participant's first day before Keys2Work facilitates placement into higher-paying permanent industries, according to Open Campus. The rapid wage attachment is meant to relieve immediate financial desperation so participants can focus on soft skills and technical credentials, the outlet reports. RecycleForce has also stacked additional federal funding on top of the RESTART award: a $500,000 EPA Brownfields Job Training Grant secured this year will provide 339 hours of instructional training and job placement in environmental remediation for up to 95 Marion County residents facing employment barriers, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. That curriculum confers certifications including 40-Hour HAZWOPER, OSHA safety training and HVAC fundamentals.
A federal evaluation of RecycleForce conducted under the Employment and Training Administration's Enhanced Transitional Jobs Demonstration found that its rapid-attachment employment model reduced participant recidivism by 6.2 percentage points and generated $1.20 in economic value for every dollar invested, according to RecycleForce. RecycleForce was reportedly the only enterprise among seven national programs in that study to yield a favorable cost-benefit ratio.
Why Employment Is the Focus
Indiana's push toward workforce-driven reentry reform did not begin with this grant. In April 2025, Gov. Braun signed Executive Order 25-46, directing the commissioner of the Indiana Department of Correction to study reentry barriers and publish a comprehensive report by June 30 focused on reducing post-release unemployment and housing instability. The order identified stable employment as the single primary factor in preventing formerly incarcerated Hoosiers from reoffending.
State data helps explain the emphasis on jobs over other interventions. According to the Indiana Department of Correction's 2022 adult recidivism report, 29.79% of offenders released from state correctional facilities in 2019 returned to state custody within three years — and technical supervision violations, rather than new crimes, accounted for 64.6% of those re-incarcerations. The same IDOC analysis found that incarcerated individuals who participate in work release programs during their sentences are 47.72% less likely to return to prison within three years compared to non-participants. Indiana spends roughly $1 billion annually on incarceration and correctional facility operations, according to state budget data highlighted by criminal justice advocacy group 2nd Chance Indiana, a figure officials view as a long-term reason to invest in reentry employment rather than repeated cycles of custody.
Part of a Broader Workforce Strategy
Gov. Braun said the partnership has helped reduce Indiana's unemployment rate, which currently sits at 3.3%, and that he intends to keep working on affordability and raising wages across the board, according to WFYI. The RESTART grants arrive alongside other state moves tying public institutions directly to employer labor needs — in March, Braun signed Senate Enrolled Act 254, rewriting Ivy Tech's mission around jobs by aligning postsecondary training with regional employer demand.
Open questions remain about how the Indiana Department of Workforce Development will coordinate its $5.1 million grant alongside the nonprofit-led initiative, and whether the rural counties included in Developing the Work Muscle have enough industrial employer partnerships to match the placement capacity available in Indianapolis, according to Open Campus. For now, state officials are framing the grants as a down payment on a workforce strategy that treats formerly incarcerated Hoosiers as an underused labor pool rather than a permanent drag on the corrections budget.
