Jail to Jobs founder Chris Haskins and his wife, Kim, began offering Bible study classes in area juvenile detention centers in 2009, and while they saw success, they noticed may of the kids released would return not long after.
This led the Haskinses to expand the nonprofit to include job training and mentoring in an effort to reduce recidivism in youths ages 12-24, Williamson County Director Eddie Franz said.
Through several programs including working on jobsites, preparing meals to go and catering, the youth gain valuable work skills in construction, culinary, landscaping and others, making them more hirable and more likely to keep a professional job, Franz said.
“We want to equip [the kids], teach them and help them become successful in the future,” Franz said. “Most of the kids that we work with, they really do want to change. They’ve made a lot of mistakes in the past, but they’re not happy with the trajectory of their life, and they want to make that change; the problem is they don’t know how.”
The WCRAS program is funded through a Petco Foundation grant the shelter received in 2020. If extended, WCRAS Director Misty Valenta said the grant allows the program to continue through at least the end of the fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30. Then she will have to find other means of financial support.
