Success finding a desirable job in today’s labor market requires job seekers to have adequate skills. Without sufficient training, job seekers can get stuck in a “low pay, no pay” cycle—that is, they frequently move between low-paid work and unemployment. This is especially true for workers with past criminal legal system involvement: these individuals face structural disadvantages in finding high-wage employment, such as difficulty establishing work history or education credentials and developing the skills needed in today’s job market. They must also confront the prevailing stigma against hiring individuals with a criminal record.^[1]

A strong evidence base including multiple randomized controlled trials has shown that sector-based employment training models—which train people for high-quality jobs that align with the labor force needs of employers in targeted industry sectors—can substantially improve employment outcomes among workers with low incomes.^[2] Sector training models vary in approach and target population, but typically offer similar elements including a screening process to assess readiness, work-readiness training, occupational skills training, job placement assistance, post-placement assistance, and comprehensive support to address financial and personal needs.

One common critique of sector-based training models is that the screening process tends to be intensive and limits access for job seekers most in need, such as those with past legal system involvement. Given the promising findings on sector-based training programs, there is growing interest in expanding access to sector-based training for more marginalized job seekers. Sector training providers interested in expanding their service population may benefit from lessons learned in Los Angeles County, where, in 2019, Los Angeles County’s Justice, Care and Opportunities Department (JCOD), in partnership with seven community-based organizations, launched the Skills and Experience for the Careers of Tomorrow (SECTOR) program, a sectoral training program for job seekers with previous legal system involvement. The lessons presented here are drawn from two implementation and outcome studies of the program conducted by MDRC, with funding support from JCOD through a California Board of State and Community Corrections (BSCC) grant made possible through Proposition 47.^[3]

About SECTOR

Individuals are eligible for SECTOR if they are at least 18 years old; have been arrested, charged, or convicted of a criminal offense; and have a history of mental health or substance use disorder needs. The SECTOR program model includes five core components: (1) Job readiness programming with career coaching and case management; (2) Cognitive Behavioral Interventions–Employment Adult (CBI-EA), a series of employment-focused group workshops informed by cognitive behavioral therapy, to develop problem-solving skills for the workplace and prevent future felony or misdemeanor convictions; (3) Labor market demand-driven skills training and paid work experience; (4) Financial assistance during program participation and completion incentives; and (5) Job placement assistance with employers.^[4]

An implementation and outcome study of SECTOR conducted by MDRC in 2021, the program’s first year of implementation, found that the program model showed promise: Program staff members reported that about half—47 percent—of SECTOR participants found employment. The study also identified positive outcomes for criminal legal system involvement compared with overall trends in re-arrests and convictions in Los Angeles. During the one-year period following enrollment in the SECTOR program, about 87 percent of SECTOR participants were not arrested and about 96 percent had no recorded new convictions.^[5]

A follow-up implementation and outcome analysis by MDRC found similar results for clients who enrolled in SECTOR in 2023 and the first half of 2024: Program staff reported that during the one-year period following enrollment, about 38 percent of participants found employment. The decline in employment between the two study periods could be a result of contextual factors; the previous evaluation occurred during expansive growth as the job market was recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, while the follow-up period for the later evaluation spanned from 2024 to 2025, when job growth was less robust.^[6] The follow-up analysis also found about 85 percent of SECTOR clients were not arrested in Los Angeles County, and about 83 percent avoided any reincarceration in county jail. For comparison, in 2015, about 62 percent of individuals released from Los Angeles County jails were not rearrested during the three years following release; new conviction rates within three years of release have hovered around 50 percent in recent years.[7]

Lessons for Sector Training Practitioners

MDRC’s implementation and outcome studies of the SECTOR program yielded three noteworthy implementation lessons for sectoral training providers interested in expanding their services to reach workers with past interactions with the legal system.

1) Build stability for program participants.
Many people with past criminal legal system involvement—especially those recently released from incarceration—do not have consistent, stable access to necessities and critical services such as housing and transportation. Training providers may benefit from considering how to provide participants with greater stability, in addition to offering training services, potentially partnering with community organizations to do so. This approach was used by SECTOR providers, who offered services such as case management, a cognitive behavioral intervention integrated with more traditional employment approaches, and access to mental health clinicians and peer support specialists.

2) Think strategically about employer relationships.
Individuals with past legal system involvement face barriers to employment including employer discrimination and legal limitations in job opportunities; some healthcare positions are not open to workers with a past conviction involving controlled substances, for example. Some SECTOR providers had dedicated staff members who worked to build relationships with employers and identify job opportunities where SECTOR participants would be a good fit. One SECTOR staff member noted that screening employers before putting them in contact with job seekers increases the likelihood of a positive outcome:

I like to speak with … the employers to vet them before we start the process because I don’t want [the SECTOR participant] to get a bad taste in their mouth when they’re applying to those positions. Obviously, I can’t prevent them from applying to places that are gonna deny them or anything like that, but I try to provide the ones that are more likely to hire them.

3) Employ staff members with lived experience.
SECTOR participants and staff members emphasized the importance of staff members having a deep understanding of the impact of criminal legal system involvement; many SECTOR staff members drew on their personal experience of criminal legal system involvement. As one SECTOR client explained:

It’s just the way that [the SECTOR staff] know how to get to you, you know. And it let me know that they’ve been working with people that was like me that got the same situations. You know, coming out of drugs and all these types of things. And they just get you. You get it. You know what I’m saying? They know how to teach to a person like me in my thinking in my mentality.

To learn more about the SECTOR model and evaluations of JCOD’s other programming, visit MDRC’s Los Angeles County Reentry Integrated Services Project page.