CEO | Philadelphia

Want to become a participant?

CEOPhiladelphia@ceoworks.org

Partnership Contact

Verna Hamilton

Site Director

vlhamilton@ceoworks.org

Trolley

Bus

Car (from South)

Car (from North)

Join CEO

Philadelphia

Email List!

Thank you! Your submission has been received!

Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.

The Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO) Philadelphia provides immediate, effective, and comprehensive employment services exclusively to people recently released from incarceration. CEO’s program supports participants in gaining the workplace skills and confidence needed for successful transitions to stable, productive lives. We are dedicated to ensuring that justice-impacted job seekers have opportunities to achieve socioeconomic mobility.

CEO Philadelphia has been open since 2015.

Get Involved

Donate to Support our Local Initiatives!

V.A.N.S Initiative (click for more information)

Donate

CEO Philadelphia Partners & Funders

The US Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration funds 100%, or $900,000, of program costs for the Community Project Grant – Hilco/CEO.

No items found.

CEO Updates:

Read the story

January 16, 2025

Pennsylvania State Democrats

Sen. Fontana Announces $8.6 million for Violence Prevention & Afterschool Programs

Allegheny County – January 16, 2025 – Today, Senator Wayne Fontana announced a total of $8,636,483 in state funding from the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency (PCCD) for agencies and organizations that serve the people of the 42nd District. These grants provide funding for structured programming opportunities for at-risk school-age youth and violence intervention and prevention initiatives.

June 25, 2024

Maddie Gittens | The Burg News

State, local officials discuss initiatives to address gun violence, root causes at roundtable

Lt. Gov. Austin Davis hosted a roundtable conversation to tackle the issue, with local officials and community members commenting on the initiatives they’re taking to find solutions. “Some people think that this [gun violence] is just a Harrisburg issue, or a Philadelphia issue or a Pittsburgh issue,” Davis said. “I want to be clear that this is a Pennsylvania issue, and it is uniquely an American issue. But it’s an issue that we can and must do something about.”

February 14, 2023

WHYY.org

Philly employment programs kick off this spring to help end cycle of violence

Rasheed Abdus says when he got out of prison four years ago, at age 21, he struggled to find a job. “Maybe cause I didn’t know how to use a computer,” he said. A friend connected him to the Center for Employment Opportunities, a national work readiness organization with a Philadelphia chapter, and he started cleaning up parks in Kensington. Now, he’s learning to train other formerly incarcerated people.

May 11, 2022

South Philly Review

Scanlon announces $1 million to support workforce training

Congresswoman Mary Gay Scanlon announced $1 million in new federal funding she recently secured to support a workforce training program for formerly incarcerated Philadelphians. It is one of 10 Community Project Funding awards, formerly known as earmarks, Scanlon delivered for her district through the Fiscal Year 2022 federal government funding package passed by Congress in March.

January 20, 2022

WHYY

Philly looks to expand initiative offering support to potential shooters before they pick up a gun

Despite the ongoing pandemic, Philadelphia officials said they are trying to expand one of their key gun violence prevention programs.

December 18, 2025

Aliyah Tyson

“You Have to Be the Change”: Reggie and the Community Response to the 2025 SNAP Pause

When Regnarian “Reggie” came home, nothing about reentry was easy. He had returned not to his hometown of Brooklyn, but to Philadelphia, a city where he had no family, no friends, and, at first, no safe place to land. “The halfway house I was in had open drug use, theft, fights every day,” he told me. “I knew I had to advocate for myself if I wanted to survive.”

April 15, 2024

Quiana Brifu, Federal Policy Associate

CEO Partners with Mayor Cherelle Parker for Spring Philadelphia Clean Up: #CleanandGreen

In the bustling streets of Philadelphia's Germantown area, a remarkable partnership recently unfolded between the Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO) and Mayor Cherelle Parker.

November 15, 2023

Jason Kahler

“Exceed everyone’s expectations:” Reggie finds new purpose with Hilco and CEO

Philadelphia Hilco Crew Site Supervisor Ella Saunders can’t help but sing Reggie’s praises. “Reggie serves as an inspiring example of personal growth and determination to positively impact society,” says Saunders.

August 26, 2022

Eric Borsuk

Jose Shares Why SNAP Benefits Are Vital For Successful Reentry

Jose heard about the Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO) while residing at a halfway house in Philadelphia. With a referral from his unit team, he soon began working with a CEO crew cleaning up the streets of Philly, earning daily pay and receiving coaching to pursue the job of his choice. After 24 years of incarceration, he says the most troubling part of reentry was the fear of recidivism.

April 4, 2022

Quiana Pugh

Members of Congress hear from justice-impacted individuals

At CEO, we have a vision that each person returning home from incarceration will have access to a quality job and economic mobility. Even though more than 600,000 individuals return home from incarceration each year, they are largely unable to access our country’s public workforce system and the support needed to focus on employment training during reentry. This past winter, CEO invited federal lawmakers to 9 of our sites to hear directly from justice-impacted experts on needed changes to law to make employment training better.

December 11, 2018

Charles Brown

Charles Brown began his prison sentence when he was 17. By the time he returned home to Philadelphia he was a 53 year old whose entire adult life had been shaped by the criminal justice system. All of Charles’ accomplishments — from earning his GED to enrolling in college classes to becoming a mentor — were inseparable from his incarceration.