KANSAS CITY, MO — Mark Byrd is in the business of second chances.

An HVAC specialist by trade, his passion to help people re-entering society from the prison system started more than a decade ago when he started KC Redemtion and the New Reflections Technical Institute, a job training program that prepares students for their new life.

"We try to help them get to a point where they can survive and be sustainable and to have a good life, you know, and most of them never realized they could have it," he said.

He's helping students like Otis Steen, who went from the judicial system, to financial stability by becoming a truck driver.

"As a person looking from the outside in, it seemed like a dream, like a fantasy. But going through it, it's still like a dream, like a dream state, like, 'Wow, is this true?'" said Steen.

Employment reduced recidivism and makes communities safer. While Byrd believes in his students, it can be an uphill battle convincing employers to give them their second chance.

However, he’s noticed recently that the Great Resignation has been opening more doors.

"When we first started it, we had one company that was felon-friendly. Now, we have over 70," he said.

In November, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said a record high of 4.5 million people quit their job that month alone. We’ve seen the impacts of the Great Resignation reflected in food service, deliveries, and supply chain tangles.

Every year, 600,000 Americans leave the judicial system looking for employment. Although more than 1 in 4 people re-entering society is unemployed, studies have shown that they stay at their jobs longer and are less likely to quit than the general workforce.

"This person here wants that opportunity. This is their second chance might even be their third chance, but in most cases, it's their last chance. So, when they get this opportunity there, their work starts at seven o'clock. They're there at 6:30, drinking coffee in their hand, ready to go," said Byrd.

"We get calls or emails on a weekly basis," said Dwayne Williams, the president and CEO of 12^th Street Heritage Development Corporation in Kansas City.

A decade years ago, they started a re-entry program and are noticing exactly what Mark has been: more employers looking to hire their clients.

"We have individuals who are looking for jobs. And so now, they've got another resource that they can, that they can tap," Williams said.

"I think a lot of employers will be surprised at the work ethic of individuals who come out of the system, you know, because a lot of them, they really not trying to go back to the system," said Gary Riley.

Riley has been with 12th Street for years. He says getting that second chance turned his life around.

"It helped me be a better man for tomorrow. You know what I mean? It showed me how to dig within deep, within to be the leader that I know I can be the follower I know I can be," he said.

As people like Byrd and Williams continue to match their students with employers, they hope this trend of hiring more people looking for a second chance continues well after the great resignation subsides.

"I advise our employees to look deep into themselves and figure out that mistake they made and what they needed and who helped them, who helped them. Now, it's their time to help someone else, and we can rebuild America. We can rebuild our workforce," said Byrd.

PHILADELPHIA — A Philadelphia pizza parlor is hoping to help those who've been formerly incarcerated and are looking to revitalize the neighborhood.

“We’re at 28^th and Lehigh,” said north Philadelphia resident Abdulwahid Muhsin.

“It’s been a lot of violence in the neighborhood. You see the stuff changing around,”

Muhsin’s family has been in North Philadelphia for 70 years

“My grandmother bought the house in 1950,”

“These neighborhoods are just a byproduct of a neighborhood trying to survive on limited resources and trying to survive,” said Muhammad Abdul-Hadi.

He lives in the same neighborhood, believing the area is ready for some TLC.

“See, all these buildings are opportunities man, that’s how I look at them. These abandoned buildings are nothing but opportunities for something to come in that could potentially be a benefit to the community,” said Abdul-Hadi.

Abdul-Hadi puts his money where his mouth is, investing in a community restaurant: Down North Pizza.

“Down North Pizza is a mission-based for-profit restaurant. We exclusively hire formerly incarcerated,” said Michael Carter.

Carter spent 12 years of his life in prison.

Today he’s the executive chef at Down North Pizza.

“In Philadelphia, one out of every 23 persons out here in the workforce is on parole,” said Carter.

Two in 3 prisoners will get arrested within three years of their release, according to federal data published in 2021.

Four out of 5 will be arrested again within a decade.

It’s a trend that Down North and other businesses across the U.S. would like to reverse.

“Well, first of all, it's essential for you to know parolees to get jobs in general,” said Becky Trammell, an associate dean at Metropolitan State University Denver and has spent the better part of two decades studying prison populations in the US.

She says businesses like Down North are doing an essential job.

“It's not addressing the problem in the aggregate, but it will change lives. And it will help individuals, and so we need to support these types of programs that are doing something for this it's a big big problem,”

Muhammad wants people to stop seeing the formerly incarcerated as the enemy.

“The modern stereotype is that they’re evil, they’re bad people, they can’t get it right, which for the most part is the total opposite,” said Abdul-Hadi.

“If we keep dehumanizing these people and pretending like they're the monsters in the closet waiting for us to go to bed so that they can pick a machete for us, then we won't be. We won't have any incentive to try to do things to stop crying in the first place," said Tramell.

For Carter and some of his other coworkers, just because they’re out doesn’t mean they’re out.

“I’m on parole. So it’s like, I walk softly out here, every day. Do you know what I mean? Because any day one false move could mean I’m back on the other side automatically,” said Carter.

The hope is that Down North can represent redemption, both for its workers and community.

“We hope that it will get better. We hope that more businesses will open up to revitalize this,” said Muhsin.