This Goodwill program aims to help the formerly incarcerated reenter the workforce

The concept is a hand up, not a handout.

Goodwill Industries of New Mexico is working with social service organizations, housing nonprofits and reentry-focused centers to ensure formerly incarcerated people can successfully reintegrate into society.

Staff from Goodwill presented about their NextSteps program to the Legislative Health and Human Services committee on Monday.

Nina Chavez, director of government relations at Goodwill Industries of New Mexico, said NextSteps is a self-funded program launched in 2022 that aims to improve employment outcomes for people getting out of prison and reduce prison recidivism.

NextSteps operates at five correctional facilities in New Mexico — Central New Mexico Correctional Facility, Penitentiary of New Mexico, Roswell Correctional Center, Lea County Correctional Facility and Western New Mexico Correctional Facility — and offers workforce development, job readiness training, access to social services, resource navigation and wraparound services, Chavez said.

She said the first 45 days after being released are particularly important.

“At Goodwill, we believe in the concept of a hand up, not a handout, to help our clients succeed,” she said.

Sesha Lee, chief services officer at Goodwill Industries of New Mexico, said a holistic approach is crucial to success. She said NextSteps has an assessment that takes into account people’s employment strengths and skills as well as barriers like mental health, substance use, access to transportation and physical limitations.

Lee said the most common issues for formerly incarcerated people are lack of employment history, conviction history, worries about stigma, no reliable transportation and substance abuse issues.

“We really try to think of everything so we can be one step ahead of the challenges that they're going to face,” she said.

From July 2022 to December 2023, NextSteps served 110 individuals, Lee said. To date in 2024, she said, the program has served 140 people.

That’s compared to the approximately 1,800 individuals released annually from New Mexico’s public and private prison systems, according to Goodwill’s presentation.

Chavez said Goodwill wants to expand NextSteps to all public and private correctional facilities in New Mexico, which would add services to Guadalupe County Correctional Facility, Northeast New Mexico Correctional Facility, Otero County Prison Facility, Southern New Mexico Correctional Facility and Springer Correctional Center.

“We believe that by working together, we cannot only reduce recidivism but also foster safer, healthier communities,” Chavez said.

A coalition focused on reentry opportunities, which includes Goodwill Industries of New Mexico, recommended lawmakers appropriate $10 million in recurring funding for statewide reentry workforce development service program and $13.8 million in recurring funding to go to the New Mexico Health Care Authority’s RESET housing program.

The coalition also recommended the creation of a reentry task force that includes reentry providers and formerly incarcerated people to develop more legislative recommendations.

Rep. Liz Thomson, D-Albuquerque, said the state needs to offer more treatment in prisons.

“If we treated people when they were in prison, they’d be better when they get out, period,” Thomson said. “It doesn’t take rocket science to figure it out.”

Sen. Gerald Ortiz y Pino, D-Albuquerque, chair of the committee, added that it also doesn’t take rocket scientists to see the connection between people going back to prison if they’re not prepared to reenter society.

“The best thing we could do to fight crime in this state, it seems to me, is to make sure that anybody who has been in prison has a successful exit and never goes back. This is so elementary that you think that that should be the focus of a special session,” the senator said, referring to the public safety special session over the summer.

The Legislature passed a single bill in the July special session, funding wildfire relief and a judicial mental health program. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham called the session to focus on public safety.

Ortiz y Pino said Goodwill is on the right track, and its program has the potential to turn crime around in New Mexico if it gets funded.

He warned that in his experience with the state’s Corrections Department, “they promise the moon and never deliver.”

Rep. Gail Chasey, D-Albuquerque, said the agency needs to spend money correctly and in a timely manner and change its culture.

“We're in desperate need in this state of support for people leaving prison so that not only can we get them out but can help them stabilize in society,” Chasey said.