A Better World Post #3

The Second Course Organization

Supplying ex-cons with a second chance through the restaurant industry

“No, let’s not eat there, the workers are so sketch.”  Imagine that instead of letting workers with a shady background scare you away from a restaurant, it is what brought you to a restaurant.  The Second Course Organization’s mission is to establish restaurants that will hire ex-convicts in order to give them a second chance and help them to restart their lives once leaving prison.   Our vision is to have a casual, sandwich shop that is run primarily by ex-cons, with only the manager not being from this group, who don’t want to let one mistake define them for the rest of their lives. 

I’ve always been interested in opening a restaurant or bakery and through this organization, it also gives ex-cons another chance at restarting their life.  Of course, some crimes are worse than others, but I don’t think that one mistake, that might have been made under extenuating circumstances, should prevent convicts from trying to resume their life once they do the time for their punishment.  Of course, we would only want to help those that are truly trying to do something better with their lives, which will we will research through communication with parole officers, administrators within the jail, and possibly even family members

I think that this could solve a larger picture because many people don’t like the fact that prisoners, who sometimes choose to return to prison because it offers them amenities that they can’t afford on their own, are living off of our tax dollars.  Around 33% of ex-cons return to jail within three years of being released and I hope that the Second Course Organization would decrease this number by giving them an opportunity not to revert to their old ways. This organization is unique because we do not want to restrict all of them to only the low levels of the company, but if they can prove that they are trustworthy and motivated to achieve more, we would let them move to higher positions within the restaurant or even the organization. 

The Second Course Organization will change the life of ex-cons who thought that their lives were over as soon as they stepped into their prison cells.  This will affect not only the ex-cons, but also their friends and family who will also be able to experience a new life with them.