Round Rock 'Jail To Jobs' Program Yields Hope

ROUND ROCK, TX — A municipal initiative dubbed "Jail to Jobs" is literally transforming lives by breaking the cycle of youth recidivism.

The program empowers juvenile offenders to find purpose, personal growth and achievement through an employment-based mentoring and job skills program, in order to reduce recidivism in the justice system, officials explained on the city website. To that end, graduates of the program are guaranteed a job from a Jail to Jobs business partner in the community.

The city first began to create the program in January to provide participants a program for participants to work on special projects for the city in order to gain real-world experience, officials said.

“One of the biggest needs that our kids had when they got out of lockup was a job,” Eddie Franz, Jail to Jobs Director for Williamson County, said in a prepared statement. “We realized that they were getting out of jail, with the desire to change but going right back into the same environment with the same lack of support that saw them incarcerated in the first place.”

City officials noted that a dozen participants and one supervisor have contributed a total of 481 hours of work to the city since May, resulting in cost savings of $2,953. Work duties have included cleaning and organizing parts at the city’s fleet warehouse, picking up illegal bandit signs, collecting recyclables from City facilities and assisting with "Household Hazardous Waste" events.

To learn more about this unique program, watch the short video below: