It can be hard to find a job in the current tight U.S. economy, especially when you have a criminal record. At one prison in the American Northwest, inmates are learning not just how to get jobs, but how to open businesses of their own.
如果你有过刑事案件前科，特别在目前美国经济紧缩之际，出狱后找工作就会非常困难。然而在美国西北部的一个监狱里，受刑人不但在学习如何找到工作，并且还学习如何开创自己的事业。
A class called LIFE (Lifelong Information For Entrepreneurs), at the Coffee Creek Correctional Facility, teaches inmates how to start their own businesses after they’re released from the Oregon women’s prison.
这个课程的名称是“企业家终生资讯”。英文所写是LIFE，也就是生命的意思。这项课程教导受刑人在刑满释放后，如何开始做自己的生意。
MercyCorps Northwest, the local branch of a global development organization, started the program four years ago, based on its experience in international aid.
这项教学计划是国际美慈组织在当地的分支机构，“美慈西北”四年前创办的。
“We were looking for ways that we could apply our expertise around economic development and small business management to populations that could use it," says Doug Cooper, assistant director of MercyCorps Northwest. "It’s identical to what we do internationally, except we apply it here in Oregon and Washington.”
教学计划的副主任道格·库珀说，他们根据慈善公司从事国际性援助工作的经验，推行这项计划。他说，“我们一直寻求途径，将我们在经济发展和小型企业经营方面的经验，传授给能够利用这些经验的人。我们在国际上就是这么作的，只是这次我们是在俄勒冈州和华盛顿州。”
The eight-month class mixes hardcore small business training with softer skills like goal setting and self care. Student Saresa Whitley is serving five years for assault. She has a job lined up after her release in January, but plans to also start a small business selling handicrafts.
为期八个月的课程，将小型生意的核心经营训练，与软件技能的训练配合，包括目标设定和自我经营。因为攻击罪服刑五年的受刑人苏利萨·惠特利是班上的一名学生。她于明年一月获释后，已经有一份工作等着她去做。可是她也计划开始自己的一项售卖手工艺品的小型生意。
“When I was talking about knowing if my business is viable or not, through a profit-and-loss model, I was like ‘Wow, I didn’t even know the word viable before, and now I do,’" Whitley says. "I’ve learned a lot, I’ve learned a lot about how to write a business plan, about effective communications skills, how to listen, something I didn’t know how to do before.”
她说，“当我经由亏盈计算模式，研究我的生意的可行性时，我说，噢，我原来还不知道‘可行性’一词，现在我明白了。我学到很多东西。我学会很多如何写营业计划的东西，有效的沟通技巧，如何聆听意见。这些都是我过去不知道如何做的事情。”
These lessons are an important part of the program. In fact, says student Cynthia Thompson, who’s serving time for ID theft, they’re kind of the point.
这些课程都是计划中的重要部分。另一名因为盗窃个人资料罪而服刑的学生辛西亚·汤普森说，事实上，这些都是学习的重点。
“I think the goal of it is to produce people that are being part of the community, paying their taxes and being volunteers. Not just necessarily successful small businesses, but just successful, accountable people in the community.”
她说，“我觉得这个计划的目标，是要培养一批成为社区一份子的人才。他们付税，也做社区义工。不仅成为事业上成功的人，也是社区里成功负责可靠的人。”
So far it seems to be working. It’s too soon for official results, but unofficially, MercyCorps says only three of its approximately 100 graduates have returned to prison. That’s way below the national recidivism rate, which is over 50 percent. Graduates have opened courier businesses, cosmetology salons and craft stands at farmer’s markets.
目前，这项计划看来有效。但要谈正式的成果还为时过早。不过，根据非正式的资料，慈善公司说，在一百名左右的结业学生当中，只有三名又回到监狱， 大大低于全国百分之50的刑满释放人员再犯罪率。结业后的学院分别开设传递，美容，手工艺站和农产品市场等业务。
Lori graduated from the first LIFE class while in prison for aggravated theft and now runs an auto repair shop. She prefers not to give her last name because she worries about the stigma of being an ex-convict.
另一名结业学生洛里，曾因盗窃罪入狱，现在自己开设一家修车厂。她要求记者不要提她的姓。因为即使她是在经营自己的生意，还是为前科纪录感到担心。
“We work so hard, and we go the extra mile for any customers, and, you know, bad word of mouth spreads faster than anything else,” she says.
她说，“我们如此辛勤工作，宁愿为顾客多付出几分。可是坏事传千里，速度比什么都快。”
Even after graduating, Lori continued to check in with a MercyCorps mentor. Together, they worked through a whole host of small business questions.
洛里在结业以后，还不断向指导老师请教。他们一同研讨过许多有关小型工商业的问题。
“What works, what doesn’t? And is it worth having a website of your own, and what avenues of advertising can you exploit for free?" Lori says. "Those are the type of things that I found invaluable.”
她说，“哪些做法行的通，哪些行不通？还有，值不值得建立自己的网站？如何做出免费的广告？我发现这些事都非常有价值。”
MercyCorps Northwest just started up another LIFE program at a women’s prison in Washington state. Cooper hopes the idea spreads throughout the country’s prisons and their 1.5 million inmates.
“美慈西北”又开始了另一批企业资讯课程计划，地点在华盛顿州的一座女子监狱。道格·库珀希望，这项理念能够传遍美国各地监狱。根据最近的资料，涵盖的受刑人数有一百五十多万。
“Ninety-five, 96 percent of those people are going to come back to our communities with the stigma of being an ex-felon," he says. "And to the extent that we make it hard for them to come back and be successful, it hurts everybody. It hurts our community. It hurts our tax base.”
他说，“百分之95到96的受刑人学生，后来都带着前科纪录，回到社会。如果他们仍旧难于回头，难于成功，对大家都会造成伤害。它将伤害我们的社会，伤害我们的税收基础。”
Cooper believes helping former inmates succeed is what a corrections system should be about. Student Saresa Whitley plans to apply what she’s learned to that small craft business - and also to her life.
库珀说，创业的思维帮助了这些妇女成功。不论她们是为自己创业，还是给别人打工。结业学生惠特利计划将她所学到的运用到小型手工艺品业务上，也运用到她的生活上。
“When I walk in that room, I’m not just a number anymore. I’m a person," she says about the LIFE classes. "And they have taught me to set goals, and I didn’t have that before. I didn’t have that hope that I can do something different.”
她说：“当我走进那间教室，我不再是一个只有号码的囚犯。我是一个人。他们教我设定计划，这是我从前不会做的。我从前没有希望过我能做成一些和过去不一样的事。” |