Submission Deadline: April 25, 2025
The National Reentry Workforce Collaborative (NRWC) invites session proposals for the 2025 NRWC Annual Conference to be held October 22-24, 2025 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Conference participants include a variety of stakeholders in the reentry workforce field including community-based organizations, business owners, government representatives (including corrections), reentry coalitions and councils, advocacy groups, non-profits, intermediaries, and workforce development boards. The conference will include both submitted and invited presentations.
NRWC members and conference attendees have expressed greater interest in sessions that provide opportunities to discuss issues with their peers and that have tangible takeaways and best practices. Session proposals that are based on original research and data, demonstrate innovative strategies or programs, highlight unique partnerships or collaborations that advance the reentry workforce field, and/or include multiple stakeholders will be given preference. While proposals from vendors or companies are welcome, those that merely promote services or products will not be accepted. Presenters are strongly encouraged to provide resources and/or reference materials attendees can take home with them or obtain through electronic means such as: checklists, forms, best practice guides.
Continue reading to learn more about the conference tracks, requested presentation topics, and view the proposal submission form.
Presentations are generally 60 minutes in length and may take the form of speaker-led presentation, moderated panel, facilitated discussions, or workshops. Accepted sessions will be scheduled along three programming tracks:
This track explores the foundational elements of effective reentry workforce programs and the evolving landscape shaping the field. Sessions will highlight best practices, and emerging innovations that practitioners are leveraging to support justice-impacted job seekers. Discussions will cover program implementation, credentialing pathways, trauma-informed approaches, and how advancements in technology, shifting labor market trends, and changing funding streams are influencing reentry workforce strategies.
- Best Practices;
- Program Implementation;
- Training, Credentialing & Talent Pipelines;
- Trauma-Informed Care;
- Artificial Intelligence & Emerging; Technologies; and
- Workforce Innovations
This track highlights the critical role of businesses in advancing fair chance hiring and building inclusive workforce strategies. Sessions will explore how employers can effectively implement fair chance hiring practices, navigate corporate and industry regulations, and develop sector-specific approaches to integrating justice-impacted talent. Attendees will gain insights into the business case for fair-chance hiring and removing barriers for justice-impacted job seekers.
- Making the Business Case for Fair Chance Hiring;
- Corporate Social Responsibility;
- HR Practices; and
- Corporate and Industry Barriers and Regulations
This track explores the broader ecosystem that influences reentry workforce success, emphasizing policy, funding, and cross-sector collaboration. Sessions will cover the role of government, philanthropic investments, public-private partnerships, and ecosystem building. Discussions will center on how local, state, and federal workforce systems work together to create sustainable change.
- Policy;
- Role of Federal Government;
- Philanthropic Investments;
- Public-Private Partnerships;
- Local, Regional, and State Systems;
- Ecosystem Building; and
- Community Connection & Supports
NRWC welcomes proposals covering all aspect of the reentry workforce. The topics listed under each track above are not exhaustive; the topics below represent current issues related to reentry workforce, requested topics from NRWC members and attendees, and past conference presentations.
Special consideration will be given to proposals based in original research or that highlight multi-stakeholder collaborations or cross-state efforts/comparisons.
- FCH participant engagement & retention
- Coaching employers through the change management process of implementing FCH
- Key laws and guidelines that assist FCH
- Example of an employer who has successfully changed their hiring policies to include FCH
- Data and research on the impact of FCH
- How to partner more effectively (e.g. corporations & CBOs)
- Partnering with postsecondary institutions in this work
- Ways to collaborate with and within incarceration centers
- Collaborative partnerships with government agencies (integrating services)
- How to collaborate when competing for resources
- Technology supporting reentry workforce/fair-chance hiring organizations, programs, etc.
- Tech education for justice-impacted people (shrinking the digital divide)
- Innovative solutions to develop resumes and match skills with employment requirements
- Technological solutions that connect justice-impacted job seekers with supports and job opportunities
- Financial Planning for organizations, programs
- Best practices in researching, applying for, and/or executing grants
- Federal Grants for Vocational Training
- Content that highlights and amplifies voices of those with lived experience
- Leveraging lived expertise to advance the field
- Perspectives on navigating challenges and systems upon re-entry (and what can, has, needs to change to improve outcomes)
- Justice Impacted entrepreneurs & business leaders
- Ethical program management
- Starting a nonprofit in this field (are you filling a gap or reinventing the wheel?)
- Organizational & leadership development
- Supporting staff (addressing vicarious trauma and other stressors of the job)
- Scholarly research on reentry and fair chance hiring
- How the measure the true impact of a high performing reentry program
- Determining best outcomes to track
- Research collaborations/partnerships
- Sealing & expunging records
- Access to care (primary medical, behavioral and oral health) and wellness support
- Transportation & mobility
- Housing (transitional housing, dual housing/workforce assistance)
- Housing instability & homelessness
- Education and programming inside corrections facilities (how to implement, examples of programs, data demonstrating outcomes)
- Internet Access in Prison
- Prison/jail programming for reentry readiness
- Successful apprenticeships in prisons that lead to meaningful employment upon release
- Soft Skills Education Pre-Release
- Prerelease interventions
- What does a solution to mass incarceration look like?
- The future of social service and workforce
- Youth in the early stage before incarceration
- Community education and engagement
- What’s not working? Examples of programs/initiatives/partnerships that missed the mark
- Policy change & strategies to advance the field
- Lobbying and legislation (examples & best practices for engaging the political system to change laws and move the needle, e.g. Ban the Box legislation)
- How to work with the gang associated, or affiliated population
- Advocating for people with more stigmatized offenses
- Trauma-informed approaches to supporting the reentry workforce
- Finding a livable wage for people with hard to employ backgrounds
- Apprenticeships and Work-Based Learning
- The faith community/spiritual wellbeing and reentry
- Economic Mobility
- Youth voices in programming and engagement
- ACES
- Market trends, emerging industries the field should know about
- Intersectional approaches to supporting reentry workforce
We invite you to share this call for proposals with your colleagues and in your networks. A downloadable one-page info sheet is available here.
All proposals must be submitted via the proposal submission portal via the link at the bottom of this page. Submissions are saved in the portal and can be updated until the submission deadline.
Please note that presenters are responsible for all registration fees and associated conference costs. Presenters will be able to register for the conference at a discounted rate. Impacted Speaker Funding is available; the application for funding will open in June 2025. Proposals must be submitted online via the 2025 Call for Proposals Portal (link below). Questions may be directed to Virginia Shapland, at [email protected].