Roots to Re-Entry Job Training and Placement Program
Green Jobs Bring Chance for Better Lives

Through an innovative green jobs initiative created by PHS and its partners, inmates of the Philadelphia Prison System are finding new opportunities and new hope while helping to care for two of Philadelphia’s oldest gardens.

Roots to Re-Entry is a partnership among PHS, the City of Philadelphia, Bartram’s Garden, Awbury Arboretum, and local landscaping firm KJK Associates. The program gives inmates a chance to develop new skills, gain hands-on landscaping experience, and pursue meaningful employment upon their release.

The Scattergood Foundation has provided significant funding for Roots to Re-Entry. Scattergood President Joe Pyle says, “This program provides value at several levels: in addition to offering skill-based training, it helps inmates navigate the practical hurdles of adjusting to life outside the prison system. And on top of that it benefits two historic gardens in communities sorely in need of green space improvements.”

Roots to Re-Entry is a component of PHS’s City Harvest program. Roots to Re-Entry is designed to maximize the chances of job placement for inmates (both men and women) involved in City Harvest and provide supportive services to help them prepare for life outside the prison system.

Roots to Re-Entry participants receive 14 to 16 weeks of training, beginning with behavioral workshops at the prison provided by the Mayor’s Office of Re-integration Services for Ex-Offenders (RISE). Inmates then enter the hands-on landscaping phase at Bartram’s Garden or Awbury Arboretum, which includes lessons on tools and equipment use and maintenance, safe practices, plant identification, and turf management.

Throughout the landscaping phase, participants continue to receive life-skills education, as well as assistance from a career coach. In addition, RISE provides up to one year of follow-up social support services beginning at the time the trainee is paroled. Program partners are working to create a network of employers in the landscaping industry to identify and secure job placement opportunities for the graduates.

“Green jobs initiatives like City Harvest and Roots to Re-Entry get at the heart of the PHS mission, which is to empower people and change lives through horticulture,” says PHS President Drew Becher.

PHS is grateful to the following funders of Roots to Re-Entry:
The Scattergood Foundation
The David S. Mathers Fund of the Philadelphia Foundation
The Philadelphia Prison System
The Social Innovation Fund through the Job’s Opportunity Investment Network
The Pew Charitable Trusts

City Harvest is funded through a founding grant from The Albert M. Greenfield Foundation, with additional support from:
The Burpee Foundation
The Claniel Foundation
Gardenburger®
Philadelphia Prison System
The Lawrence Saunders Fund
The Snave Foundation
In-kind contributions: Gro’n Sell, EP Henry, and Johnny’s Selected Seeds.

Roots to Re-Entry Advisory Board
Awbury Arboretum
Bartram’s Garden
City of Philadelphia
City of Philadelphia, Office of the District Attorney, Pre-Trial Unit
Defender Association of Philadelphia
First Judicial District of Pennsylvania, Adult Probation and Parole Department
Pennsylvania Horticultural Society
Philadelphia Prison System
Philadelphia Prison System Board of Trustees
Public/Private Ventures
RISE (The Mayor’s Office of Reintegration Services for Ex-Offenders)
The Scattergood Foundation
  
Employer Partners
KJK Associates
Liberty Tree & Landscape Management
Moon Site Management

To learn the latest happenings with Roots to Re-entry, click here.