Getting Jobs! Connecting the Reentry Population with Supportive Employers and Living Wage Jobs

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Jessica Centeno, currently serves as Deputy Executive Director at the Center for Employment Opportunities, the largest national reentry provider of employment services. Based in New York City, Jessica oversees CEO’s workforce reentry programs in New York, Ohio, and Michigan. Jessica has been working in workforce development for 20 years and in the employment reentry field for almost 15 years, where she fulfills her passion for creating connections to training and employment that lead to social and economic mobility for justice-involved individuals. Jessica’s key responsibilities include overseeing statewide partnerships, policy initiatives, and strategic partnerships and ensuring that all offices within her regions operate sustainably. Before joining CEO, Jessica worked as the Regional Training and Development Manager for a national private arbitration and mediation firm where she was responsible for recruiting and training staff throughout the East Central Region. Jessica obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University at Albany, SUNY, interned at the NYS Assembly as a Legislative Aide, and received a Master’s Degree in School Counseling from Hunter College in Manhattan. Jessica currently serves on the Board of Directors for the New York State Workforce Association (NYATEP).

Michael Hollingsworth is the Managing Director of Nu-Way Staffing. Nu-Way is a second-chance employment agency that partners with the GA Department of Corrections to place men and women who are transitioning back into the community after prison (returning citizens) into gainful employment. Since 2017, Nu-Way has changed the lives of over 500 returning citizens by placing them into gainful employment and has saved tax payers millions by helping to reduce the recidivism rate through employment.

Senior Portfolio Manager, Whitney Lovell provides customized advisory support to REDF’s network of employment social enterprises to help them achieve both mission and business goals. She enjoys building relationships with social enterprise leaders and supporting their work to transform lives and strengthen communities. Whitney focuses much of her work on supporting leaders who have been impacted by the justice system, and she runs an affinity group designed to provide space and unique support for those leaders. Whitney has experience working with a variety of mission-focused organizations across the country. Most recently, she worked at the Taproot Foundation, advising companies on their pro bono strategies and nonprofits on their capacity-building needs. She has also held roles at the Human Rights Campaign and NARAL Pro-Choice America. Outside of work, Whitney enjoys spending time with her husband, her son, and two dogs, and volunteering with local dog rescue organizations. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Politics from Hendrix College and a Master’s in Public Policy and Administration from Northwestern University.

In 2009, Coss Marte was sent to jail as the ringleader of a multi-million dollar drug operation. He was also grossly overweight and warned by his physician that his current lifestyle, if left unchecked, would likely kill him. Faced with this grim prognosis, Coss started to get in shape using the tools he had -- his prison cell and his own body weight. Within six months he lost 70 pounds and replicated his successful formula of body weight exercises with 20 other inmates. Then he launched CONBODY, a prison style bootcamp that has gained over 70,000+ clients and has hired 50+ formerly incarcerated individuals to teach fitness classes. Since the launch of his company he’s been featured in over 200 major media outlets such as NBC, CNN, The New York Times, Men's Health and has been a 3 time TED Talk Speaker. He’s also won major pitch competitions such as Pitch for Good by TOM’s shoes and the YPO shark tank competition, which combined raised $2,000,000. Today Coss co-founded a non-profit organization called Second Chance Studios, which trains and helps employ formerly incarcerated individuals to become experts in audio engineering, video production, and podcasting. In addition, he launched CONBUD, which is looking to hire formerly incarcerated individuals that have been affected by the war on drugs to build a personal and impactful presence in the cannabis market in New York State through dispensaries that he's looking to open under the NYS conditional licensing program.