Labor Dept Announces $81 Million in Grants for Formerly Incarcerated People

The grants will fund training and employment services for U.S. nationals with criminal records or who have been incarcerated.

Kelly McBride Ni

Published: 2/28/2026, 11:20:41 PM EST

Labor Dept Announces $81 Million in Grants for Formerly Incarcerated People — The U.S. Department of Labor Building in Washington on March 26, 2020. (Alex Edelman/AFP via Getty Images)

The Department of Labor (DOL) is offering $81 million in grants to help Americans leaving prison to find jobs in high-demand fields, the department announced Feb. 25.

The grants will fund training and employment services for U.S. nationals with criminal records or who have been incarcerated. The focus is on skilled trades and high-demand industries, especially in shipbuilding, the department said.

The initiative is called RESTART, which stands for Reentry Employment in Skilled Trades, Advanced Manufacturing, and Registered Apprenticeships, and is administered by the Labor Department’s Employment and Training Administration.

“Through our RESTART Program, the Labor Department is offering Americans with a criminal background an opportunity to learn in-demand skills and find mortgage-paying jobs,” Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer said in a statement.

“The Trump Administration remains committed to building a skilled workforce that will drive our economy into the future and help every American worker become self-sufficient,” Chavez-DeRemer said.

The Labor Department plans to fund up to 20 projects nationwide. About $30 million will go to organizations serving youth and young adults. The remaining $51 million will help states and tribes link reentry services to the public workforce system.

The funding comes as millions of individuals move through the criminal justice system each year.

According to the latest Bureau of Justice Statistics data from 2023, about 5.5 million adults—including non-citizens—were on probation, on parole, or incarcerated in prison or jail in the United States that year. The BJS reported that 15 percent of the prison population held on Dec. 31, 2023, were non-U.S. citizens. This does not include the non-citizens among the 68 percent on probation or parole, and the 12 percent in local jails.

That year, 453,200 were released from state and federal prisons into the community.

BJS also noted that six in 10 people released from state prison in 2012 were rearrested within three years, and just under half returned to prison within 5 years.

Reentry poses major challenges, including finding a job or housing, losing public benefits, and accessing health care.

A North Carolina study looking at data from 2000–2015 found that people recently released from prison were 40 times more likely to die of a drug overdose within two weeks than the general population, according to HHS.

Data from 2011–2012 showed that more than 5 million children in the United States—roughly 7 percent—had experienced a parent’s incarceration. The data did not differentiate by immigration status. These children often face many challenges, such as higher risks of poverty and homelessness, according to the HHS.

For the RESTART initiative, the Labor Department says it will offer Americans pre-apprenticeships, work-based learning, digital skills training, credential attainment, and paid work experiences, with an emphasis on placing participants in registered apprenticeships.