Relaunch Commissary Club (YC S17): AI Eats Reentry
I launched 70 Million Jobs (S17), the first for-profit employment platform for the formerly incarcerated. Inspired by my own incarceration and greatly assisted by my Y Combinator experience, we had success in facilitating jobs for thousands of men and women with records (of which I’m one), thereby dramatically reducing their chances of recidivating. Unfortunately, just as we became profitable, COVID hit and our revenue cratered, shuttering the business.
The problem:
Many with records have limited education and even less experience job-seeking. They don’t have a resume, the social skills or job training to speak of. And to make matters worse, there’s no peer support, no community to turn to for advice, inspiration or connections. With no job, there’s a 75% chance they’ll end up back in jail or prison. The problem destroys lives, families and communities and costs us hundreds of billions of dollars annually.
The solution: Facebook for ex-cons.
A destination for the 100 million Americans—1 in 3 adults (and 1 billion+ globally)—impacted by the criminal justice system. I talked about it with TechCrunch 5 years ago. https://techcrunch.com/2020/10/29/commissary-club-wants-to-help-formerly-incarcerated-people-find-community/ Build a social network that brings this vast population together for the first time, and lets AI handle every phase of the reentry paradigm on behalf of this population:
• Create a resume, search for jobs and apply. • Find housing • Offer personal development and job training opportunities, mentors • Referrals to professional resources (doctors, lawyers, therapists, etc) • Dating, business opps, events, music • Provide new users with voice introductions to network members, so they can find friendship, inspiration, love • Track and reward positive behavior w/tokens A lot of social good but also a great business: Brands—which love niche social networks--have never been able to directly market to this vast demographic efficiently because it’s never been readily accessible. We buy a lot of sneakers and eat a lot of hamburgers.
The bigger picture:
My mission is to be the first to take on the entire utterly f*ked reentry paradigm and have Commissary Club serve, as Women’s Lib did for women and the Civil Rights movement did for African Americans, as the one place that welcomes this historically marginalized, derided population, and allow us to flex our collective social, economic and political muscles.