Reentry Starts With Stability: Angie’s Story of Support and Success

Growing up in northern California, Angie was always into music. When she was younger, she would record and perform her own material and dreamed of attending the Los Angeles Film School to study music production.

However, as Angie got older, she started making more and more of the wrong decisions and instead became trapped in a cycle of criminality and incarceration. When she was released for the last time in November 2023, she knew it was time to turn things around and pursue her passions, but she also knew she couldn’t do it alone.

“I wanted to do something more positive with my life,” said Angie.

“So, at the end of my sentence, I reached out to A New Way of Life (ANWOL) to help get me back on my feet help me back on my feet.”

Through ANWOL, Angie found housing in Los Angeles and entered an 11-week production assistant training program at Manifest Works, which connects justice-impacted individuals to living-wage careers in the entertainment industry. Thanks to completing the program, she is now a professional production assistant helping produce commercials for companies like Liberty Mutual, Verizon, AT&T, and Pizza Hut.

“I’ve been working steadily and getting paid ever since because of that program,” said Angela.

A report from the Brookings Institution and American Enterprise Institute found that having a job reduces recidivism, and that individuals are less likely to return to prison or jail when they have stable, full-time employment. 

But, while it helped her to find work, the Manifest Works program didn’t pay, and Angie needed a way to support herself while she pursued her new career path. Through ANWOL’s partnership with the Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO), she received $3,250 in direct cash assistance through the CA HIRE program, a grant from the California Workforce Development Board awarded to CEO to provide needs-based payments through reentry partner organizations like ANWOL.

Recent research found that guaranteed income for individuals reentering communities after incarceration improves their ability to cover emergency expenses, increases monetary savings, strengthens their ability to help others, especially financially, enhances housing stability and independence, increases food security, and improves mental health.

For Angie, the money from the HIRE grant helped her purchase supplies for her new job, cover nearly $400 a month in gas to travel between job sites and classes, and build up a small amount of start-up savings.

“That money was a huge relief because now I know I have a decent cushion in the bank,” said Angie.

“I’m more independent now because of it.”

Today, thanks to her job and the financial support, Angela has a new place to live in Long Beach and the security she needs to further her career in the entertainment industry.

“I want to eventually be a production coordinator or production supervisor,” said Angie.

“And I’m grateful [to ANWOL and the HIRE grant] for helping me to do whatever I needed to do to be successful at that and to also just live my life.”

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