SkillBridge

Post-Incarceration Career Platform

Problem/Need: Formerly incarcerated individuals in the U.S. face a 27% unemployment rate due to skill gaps, hiring bias, and systemic barriers.

Solution: SkillBridge is an online job platform designed to reframe prison experiences as job assets, connect justice-impacted job seekers with fair chance employers, and advocating for policy change by promoting Clean Slate laws.

Analysis: LinkedIn is not designed for justice-impacted users, while nonprofit job boards manage static listings and have no skill development, while other job sites filter out criminal records automatically. SkillBridge's edge lies in reframing skills, fair-chance employer network, dynamic profiles & AI mentorship along with success metrics and employer pledges.

Impact + Vision: The impact I hope to see is:

• Reduce recidivism by linking employment to stability.
• Lower unemployment rates for the formerly incarcerated.
• Shift employer perceptions by validating prison-aquired skills.
• Advance policy change through advocacy and data-driven success stories.

Long Term: Make "second chance hiring" a standard practice - not an exception- in the U.S. labor market.