Aspire MO 2.0
Warehouse, Manufacturing and Supply Chain Training
Aspire MO is a employment readiness program for incarcerated women developed in partnership between the Missouri Department of Corrections, the Missouri Department of Economic Development's Missouri Women’s Council, and fellow state agencies and community partners.
The original Aspire MO program operated at Women’s Eastern Reception, Diagnostic, and Correctional Center from 2019 to 2020 and ceased training because of the COVID-19 pandemic. With 27 participants and 19 graduates, the original Aspire MO model proved to be a successful tool for reentry, as it reduced recidivism rates among participants to nearly 0%. The program was recognized by the U.S. Department of Justice and served as a case study for U.S. Senate legislation promoting entrepreneurship as a reentry tool.
Aspire MO 2.0, launched in 2023, is a warehouse, manufacturing, and supply chain training program that is modeled after the Aspire MO Entrepreneurship training program.
Missouri has extensive manufacturing and distribution industries that are located across the state. This training initiative provides nationally recognized certifications to women who are soon to be released from the Chillicothe Correctional Center.
Successful graduates earn OSHA 10, Certified Production Technician 4.0+ with Skill Boss, and Precision Measurement Instruments certifications. In addition to the technical training, each graduate is provided with eight hours of Clifton Strengths training conducted by Jessica Macy with Partner for Better. Connections to Success provides two weeks of the evidence-based Personal and Professional Development (PPD) training program. PPD includes creating a life plan and resume, training on soft skills and goal setting, professional clothing, and mock interviews. Upon release, graduates will receive peer support led by Connections to Success life coaches.
Creative Entrepreneurship
ASPIRE MO Cultivates Hope for Missouri Women
As Nigaila Gibbs approached the lectern, with her teal cap and gown covering ordinary beige scrubs, tears began to slide down her face, she looked at the leaders of the ASPIRE MO entrepreneurship program and filled with gratitude for the opportunity they were providing. She had just graduated from the program and was ready to get out of prison to begin her own dog-grooming business called Too Fly to Fetch.
Felony offenders are often subject to stereotypes when they get out of prison and into the job force. That is why when Kellie Ann Coats, executive director of the Missouri Women’s Council, and Jessie Yankee, director of the Missouri Women’s Business Center, began talking about the high recidivism rate among women who were previously incarcerated in Missouri, they decided to create a better way forward.
Launched in collaboration with the Missouri Department of Corrections Reentry Unit, ASPIRE MO is a 20-week program for felony offenders in Women’s Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center. The program helps women work on their entrepreneurial dreams while they are still in prison. On June 5, 2019, the first class graduated.
The nine women endured a strict application process to be allowed to take classes once a week to hone their business skills.
Student Lauren Avery was also hopeful about where the program would take her. She is currently in the process of becoming certified to be a group fitness instructor. This would allow her to pursue her dream of personal and group fitness training when she gets out of prison in a year. ASPIRE MO has her looking forward to her life outside of prison.
“One of my biggest takeaways is that it doesn’t matter, the type of past that you have,” she said. “You can be a convicted felon and run your own business… You can make it happen.”
She invited her family to graduation, and they were impressed by the importance that the Missouri Department of Corrections had placed on the program.
“She had told me about being in this program, and coming every Wednesday, but I didn’t realize the amount of work and the amount of support and different staff members that were involved in this,” Ann Avery, Lauren’s mother, said. “It really is a lot more than I thought it was.”
Kellie Ann Coats, Jessie Yankee and guest instructors — alongside corrections staff such as Danielle Bellamy and Ken Chapman — have put a lot of work into ASPIRE MO. But the graduates have put in just as much. Every member of the Class of 2019 now has her own business plan and intends to invest in her dreams.