San Diego Second Chance Program

San Diego Second Chance creates opportunities for people to transform their own lives. We foster behavioral changes that promote personal responsibility, healthy relationships and positive contributions to society by addressing generational issues of poverty, unemployment, addiction, criminal thinking and homelessness. This is accomplished through programs that provide job training and placement, life skills, mental health and prisoner re-entry services, relapse prevention and sober-living housing for adults and youth in need.

To empower people, regardless of their background and circumstances, to overcome their challenges an

Goal One: To provide Job Readiness Training (JRT) to 200+ adults coming out of incarceration, helping them develop the knowledge, skills and tools to achieve stability and self-reliance.

Goal Two: To engage approximately 75 justice-impacted youth in our Youth Garden program, providing them with the basics of operating a community garden while developing foundational workplace skills.

Goal Three: As we approach our 30th anniversary, our goal is to continue to build a solid financial base to support our programs through increased support from private foundations, corporations and individuals

Second Chance provides training opportunities for program and administrative staff to deepen their knowledge, expand their capability, and broaden their skills in various area to ensure that we continue to effectively meet the needs of those we serve through our programs.

o From a programmatic perspective, Second Chance has had a “return to form” type of year, especially when contrasted with the upheaval of the last two years as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Starting in February of this year, we were finally able to host all of our programs in-person on a regular basis. It cannot be overstated how important face-to-face contact is with our participants. When it comes to making deep connections, of trust, accountability and commitment, there is no substitute for being able to meet with someone in person. The shift to virtual programming hit our Job Readiness Training program especially hard, at least in terms of participant numbers. Class sizes were reduced to single digits at times, and while the overall quantity decreased, participants reported high outcomes in terms of quality – likely because class facilitators were able to spend more time with each individual. Relatedly, outcomes in terms of success finding and keeping full time employment remained consistent with prior years’ success – reaching nearly 90%. Through spring and summer, class sizes increased, and we graduated a class of 16 in August.