Reimagining Waste. Reimagining Lives. How Brightmark and RecycleForce are Working Together to Create Second Chances.
For many individuals that go through incarceration, finding second chances can be difficult. However, there is hope. Mission first organizations like RecycleForce are changing the status quo and creating opportunities for those wanting to turn a new leaf.
Read more from Brightmark here.
Scrub Hub: Do wind turbines and solar panels go to the landfill, or can they be recycled
Indianapolis (Indianapolis Star) – Renewable energy has been on the rise for nearly two decades. That will come as no surprise to many of you who have seen more wind turbines pop up in fields or solar panels on rooftops. What happens to wind turbines and solar panels at the end of their useful life? More specifically, can they be recycled or do they end up in a landfill?
Environmental and energy experts recognize there is a long way to go to be equipped for the massive amount of waste expected from renewables in the future. For renewables to be a cleaner energy source, that includes disposal, too, said Andrew King with RecycleForce, an electronic recycling company based in Indianapolis. As much as 85% of a wind turbine and 90% of a solar panel can be recycled, according to industry numbers. But that is the case only if the necessary processing is in place to make that happen.
Read the entire story here.
RecycleForce Hires COO
INDIANAPOLIS (Inside INdiana Business) — Indianapolis-based RecycleForce has named Dustin Jones as its new Chief Operating Officer. Jones previously spent 12 years in economic development for Ginovus and the City of Indianapolis.
Jones will be responsible for managing daily operations of the recycling and prisoner re-entry programs, along with overseeing the nonprofit’s planned move to a new Sherman Park facility.
“As a 12-year old organization, RecycleForce will continue to grow our impact both through the expanded recycling services while we continue to help individuals prepare for the next job so we can reduce recidivism and stabilize families. This growth plan necessitates a broader management structure than we’ve had in the past. Dustin’s skills will be a perfect complement and help take us to the next level,” said CEO Gregg Keesling.
Read the entire story here.
Brightmark Energy and RecycleForce Announce Hiring and Plastic Recycling Partnership
Brightmark to hire RecycleForce trainees for Ashley, Indiana plant; Recycle Force to supply e-waste plastics to Ashley for recycling
INDIANAPOLIS, IN – Today, Brightmark Energy, a San Francisco-based waste and energy solutions company, and RecycleForce, an Indianapolis social enterprise that provides electronic recycling services and employs formerly incarcerated individuals, announced a new multi-faceted collaboration around training, hiring, and recycling. Brightmark has committed to hiring RecycleForce-trained individuals for jobs at its Ashley, Indiana advanced plastic recycling plant. Meanwhile, RecycleForce will provide Brightmark with up to 1,700 tons per month of difficult-to-recycle plastics from televisions, computers, car seats, and similar products for processing at its Northeast Indiana facility.
Read the entire press release here.
Demonstrated RESULTS
Successful Collaborations That Improve Outcomes in Prisoner Reentry and Child Support
An excerpt from Policy & Practice; The Magazine of the American Public Human Services Association
“In Indianapolis, the grantee, RecycleForce, is a nonprofit social enterprise— a business with a social purpose—that recycles electronics. Through shared interests, a process developed collaboratively; state and local probation and parole agencies ensured that the programs had access to the individuals they sought to serve—those assessed at medium or high risk of recidivism (earlier studies have shown that reentry programing can be particularly effective for this group). In turn, RecycleForce allowed parole officers the opportunity to host check-ins with their clients at the worksite, avoiding disrupting their attendance at work and enabling the officers to better manage their caseloads.”
Read the entire article here.
Press Release
October 30, 2018
Efroymson Family Fund Awards $20,000 Grant to RecycleForce
Indianapolis based national leader in reentry and transitional jobs programs receives funds to bolster its services, continue its mission to transform lives and reclaim our environment.
Indianapolis, IN – On Friday, October 22, 2018, The Efroymson Family Fund awarded RecycleForce with a $20,000 grant to be used for general operations support. The boost in funds gives one of the nation’s top reentry and transitional jobs organizations the ability to continue to provide vital reentry services and on-the-job training to men and women who are reentering our communities.
“We are grateful and excited to receive this grant from the Efroymson Family Fund and appreciate their dedication to our mission,” said Gregg Keesling, President of RecycleForce. “These grant funds will help our organization continue to serve our clients by providing them with social services and the workplace certifications and training they need to secure long-term gainful employment.”
About the Efroymson Family Fund
The Efroymson Family Fund’s philanthropic legacy in Indianapolis and across the United States by providing financial support to a diverse range of issues including arts and culture, historic preservation, the environment and helping those in need. To date, the Efroymson Family Fund has awarded more than $100 million in grants. Visit the Efroymson Family Fund’s website to learn more: https://www.cicf.org/funds-and-foundations/family-funds/efroymson-family-fund/
Q&A:Gregg Keesling helps former inmates stay out of jail
Indianapolis social enterprise RecycleForce, which provides transitional jobs to formerly incarcerated people in its electronics recycling operation—always believed his program worked.
Now he has proof. RecycleForce was one of seven programs nationwide participating in a U.S. Department of Labor study to measure the impact of transitional jobs programs on participants and the community.
Read the entire IBJ article here.
Grant awarded to Indiana company employing ex-offenders
July 18, 2018
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – On the surface, Recycle Force is another recycling plant; but look closer and you’ll find that precious metals and plastics aren’t the only things getting second chances.
“There’s a practicality about embracing people that are coming home, from a mistake, to try to help them to not make that mistake again,” president Gregg Keesling said.
Each employee at Recycle Force is an ex-offender, considered by the courts to be high-risk. Keesling says he hires formerly incarcerated people to help rebuild their lives through employment and social services. This week, Recycle Force was awarded a grant for $85,000 by the Key Bank Foundation.
See the Fox59 video segment here.
Local firms seek to advance social entrepreneurship in central Indiana
While the term social entrepreneurship might sound like just another buzzword at first glance, central Indiana already has several examples, including RecycleForce, the local firm that helps recently incarcerated people transition back into the workforce, and Farm360, a for-profit hydroponic farm that aims to help people access food in urban neighborhoods.
Read the rest of this IBJ article here.
Tight Job Market Opens Doors for Ex-Offenders
An increasingly tight labor market has companies turning to a surprising subset of potential workers for help: former prison inmates. Once shunned as too risky to hire, men and women with criminal records are finding more open doors in business and industry. Read more from Indianapolis Business Journal here.
Who’s Building Circular Economies with Electronic Waste Recycling?
Tech companies like Apple are constantly designing and releasing new products for the market. These drive innovation at a huge cost to consumers and the environment – but one man’s trash is another’s treasure. Read more from Edgy Labs here.
Social Enterprise Stories
SEA’s storytelling initiative is all about individuals impacted by social enterprises across the United States, and how social enterprise can change lives. Read their spotlight on RecycleForce employee Rob Smith here.
Reducing Recidivism and Strengthening Families
With a laser focus on serving medium to high risk citizens returning from incarceration, RecycleForce provides life changing education, workforce training and employment services. Read more from Social Enterprise Alliance here.
5 Social Enterprises Overcoming Barriers to Employment
If you’ve been incarcerated, or you’re recovering from addiction, or you’re on the autism spectrum, finding a job can be hard. These five businesses are there to help. Read more from Conscious Company Media here.
From Recall to Recovery: Finding the Silver Lining in a Product Recall
We live in a throw-away culture. Society throws away electronics and it throws away people, too. At RecycleForce, we reclaim the value of recalled electronics and we help people reclaim the value of their own lives. Read more from Triple Pundit here.
How This Venture Has Impact Coming and Going
While some businesses seem to make profit both coming and going, RecycleForce seems to have impact both coming and going. Read more from Forbes here.
Recycling E-Waste with Workers Looking for a Second Chance
The recidivism rate of the ex-offenders it hires is 25 percent, compared to the national average of 76.6 percent. Indiana-based RecycleForce is taking e-waste from businesses, governments and some residents and processing them using the labor of former prisoners reentering the workforce. Read more from Waste360 here.
Grant Helps RecycleForce Fight Crime
An Indianapolis operation that uses recycling as a means to fight crime is getting a generous boost from an unusual social justice fund based in San Fransisco. Read more from IndyStar here.
Mayor Hogsett Touts Indy’s Re-Entry Program to Nation’s Mayors
It’s a problem all major cities have to grapple with: how to help ex-offender re-enter society and avoid a trip back to jail. On Friday, Indianapolis Major Joe Hogsett showed off a longtime local approach to mayors across the country. Read more from IndyStar here.
Gov. Holcomb Issues Executive Order to ‘Ban the Box’ in Indiana
Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb issued an executive order to exclude criminal history from executive branch employment job applications on Thursday. The executive order affects more than 1.12 million Hoosiers with some form of a criminal record, according to U.S. Justice Department data. Read more from IndyStar here.
Here are 5 Crazy Ways Recycling Heroes are Changing the Face of Indianapolis
People in Indianapolis are changing the face of the city by recycling old materials in cool, exciting, inspirational ways. Read more from IndyStar here.
Indianapolis Can’t ‘Ban the Box’ Anymore, But a New Policy Might Have the Same Effect
The box isn’t banned anymore. Not technically, at least. But if you run a company that wants to do business with Indianapolis and Marion County, it would be a very good idea for your to skip the box – a term that refers to the space people check on job applications to indicate they have a criminal record. Read more from IndyStar here.
Landfill Usage and Its Impact on the Industry
According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, waste material collection – specifically of refuse and recycling materials – is the fifth most dangerous job in the country, and incidents involving the transportation of waste are the cause of 40% of the injuries and fatalities. Read more from American Recycler here.
RecycleForce Can’t Lose
No, really. It can’t. Because if the nonprofit goes away, Marion County also loses its best hope for keeping ex-cons in work and off the street. But with grant money evaporating and commodities prices falling, the recycling company could be headed for the scrap heap. Read more from Indianapolis Monthly here.
Municipal Waste and the Benefits of Re-Use
When it comes to municipal solid waste, it wasn’t that long ago that cities focused almost entirely on disposal. Only in the last 25 years or so have they begun to embrace recycling and materials recovery. Read more from Governing here.
Indy Graffiti Removal Program Goes Beyond Beautifying Neighborhoods
A program aimed at removing graffiti is doing more than beautifying neighborhoods. Read more from WISH-TV here.
Summer Graffiti-Removal Program Starts in Indianapolis
For the third year in a row, the Indy Public Safety Foundation, Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department and the Indianapolis Fire Department are teaming up with community partners to remove graffiti from homes and business free of charge. Read more from WRTV here.
6 Traits of People Who Help Others Out of Prison Into Work
In a nation rife with social breakdown, it’s just not feasible to incarcerate all of our felons for life. Some attention must be given to rehabilitation. Read more from The Federalist here.
Indy Organization Receives Grant to Help Former Inmates
The U.S. Department of Labor is awarding $59 million in grants to organizations improving employment opportunities for formerly incarcerated youth and adults – including one in Indianapolis. RecycleForce in Indianapolis received a grant for more than $1.3 million. Read more from Indiana Public Media here.
Recycling Plant Offers Second Chance for Ex-Offenders
A major recycling operation on the city’s near east side is serving as a way back into the workforce for hundreds who have done time for crime. Read more from WTHR here.
Look for Graffiti to Start Disappearing, New Abatement Mobile Unit Launches in Indy
It’s hard to miss the graffiti covering homes and businesses in many areas of Indianapolis. A new mobile unit is rolling through the city, outfitted to clean it up. Read more from FOX-59 here.
Video: The Path After Prison
An in-depth look at re-employment and ex-offenders from research by Professor Christopher O.L.H. Porter at the Kelley School of Business. Watch here.
Video: Recycling Electronics and Recycling People
RecycleForce is a social enterprise aimed at reducing the rate of recidivism by recycling electronic waste. Watch here.
Video: The Weekly Special – WTIU
One of Indianapolis’ largest recycling centers, RecycleForce, processes over six million pounds of materials every year, renewing lives along the way. Watch here.