Project ReMADE is an entrepreneurship training program for formerly incarcerated people. The 12-week program teaches basic business skills to aspiring entrepreneurs and helps them build the social capital necessary to launch and sustain their businesses.

ReMADE entrepreneurs attend bi-weekly classes on topics ranging from accounting and marketing to negotiations and public speaking. Classes are taught by students from Stanford Law School and Stanford Graduate School of Business. In between every class, ReMADE entrepreneurs meet with their mentor teams, who help them develop their individualized written business plans. Mentor teams comprise one Stanford Law School student, one Stanford Graduate School of Business student and one Silicon Valley professional.

Each year, the program culminates in a completion ceremony held at Stanford Law School. Entrepreneurs present their business plans before a panel of executives from local micro-development organizations, along with an audience of 150 students and invited guests.

Mission

Project ReMADE’s mission is to equip formerly incarcerated people with the tools necessary to be successful entrepreneurs and, through networking and mentorship, encourage the business community to re-engage those involved in the criminal justice system in the economic prosperity of society.

The goals of Project ReMADE are to facilitate the economic independence of the formerly incarcerated, offer feasible alternatives to crime in the form of self-employment and an overall reduction in the financial and social costs of criminality to the public.

Vision

One of the biggest challenges facing individuals reentering society from prison and jail is finding and maintaining stable employment. Weak work histories and social networks, limited education and job skills, and the stigma of a criminal record often hamper their ability to obtain a sustainable job at a living wage. And yet, without employment, formerly incarcerated people are three to five times more likely to commit a crime than are those who gain employment after leaving prison.[1] The inability to find employment not only affects the individual, but also negatively impacts the person’s family and their communities.

Our vision is to utilize the empowerment of entrepreneurship to foster the successful reentry of formerly incarcerated individuals back into society, ignite a new beginning for their families and a positive change in their communities.

[1] Matthew C. Sonfield, Entrepreneurship and Prisoner Re-entry: The Development of a Concept, Small Business Institute Research Review, Volume 35 (2008), p. 193.