Breakthrough
Because change doesn’t just happen, it’s made. Through compassion, connection, and community, we empower individuals who have been incarcerated to embrace new possibilities and realize their true potential.
We believe that humans are more than their past. We believe in the power of change. Through compassion, connection, and community, we rebuild people’s lives and ultimately help them reintegrate into society—all while challenging outdated perceptions to reform how our country defines criminal justice.
We are a 501c3 non-profit organization that prides itself in supporting people with criminal histories as they transform their lives and radically altering the community’s perception of the incarcerated population. Our holistic approach includes an in-facility career education program, community engagement, re-entry support, a fair opportunity hiring program, and criminal justice advocacy initiatives.
Our in-facility program develops the soft-skill that are essential to personal and professional growth through PAIRIN, teaches job readiness skills with curriculum designed in partnership with Google Boulder, and cultivates the entrepreneurial mindset through class sessions and group work designed by Colorado State University. In the entrepreneurial phase of the in-facility program, the people in our program pitch their business ideas to classmates and volunteers. Our in-facility program welcomes community members to volunteer as mentors. These mentors assist the in-class learning process by providing feedback, encouragement, and real-life experience. During a participant’s initial reentry, staff will connect them to wraparound services, as well as to volunteer mentor support from the community. Our support extends past release, staff maintains contact every week for the first month of re-entry. Additionally, our Fair Opportunity Employment Program works to recruit fair opportunity partners and develop resources/tools to support in hiring and maintaining fair opportunity talent. We will match employers struggling to find quality employees with our people re-entering society and provide them the tools they need to successfully work together. Lastly, advocacy is an essential part of working in the criminal justice sector. Through the spread of information and engagement initiates we are advocating for a more fair and productive justice system.
We believe in humans, and in our shared humanity because we know that every person deserves to be seen, heard, and challenged to rise above their past to break through to a better tomorrow.
Financials
Programs
The Challenge
The Challenge is a 32-week (8-month) program in which they will be asked to alter their lives and mindsets to enhance each individual's Job Readiness, Character Development, Reentry Planning, and Entrepreneurial Mindset. Job readiness and reentry planning topics include goal-setting, job search in the 21st century, resume building, time management, budgeting and cost of living, and mock interviews. The entrepreneurial mindset dives into business ideation, business models, finance, customer development, and teamwork.
The Transformation
Our in-facility alumni program allows opportunities for continued personal and professional development. We believe in improving the quality of life within facilities, as well as continuing to support our graduates in personal transformation while they await release. This is a time when alumni are able to show off what they learned in The Challenge.
The Return
We have welcomed home over 50 of our people home. Our primary role for those in The Return is obtaining and maintaining stable employment while helping them to fill skill gaps as they embark on their chosen career path. To help our program participants successfully stabilize we connect them with trusted community partners specializing in their area of need.
The Exemplar
In this stage, we focus on career development, personal growth, and entrepreneurial guidance. People in The Exemplar program have access to our dedicated network of mentors and career workshops.
Volunteering + Events
Coach our people inside
An In-facility Coach joins Breakthrough staff on the inside for a class session or program event. In this role, you will be engaging with our people through large groups, small groups, and one-on-one activities led by staff. During class and event sessions, Breakthrough aims to cover topics such as character development, job readiness, and entrepreneurial mindset. Due to the wide variety of topics, we like our coach’s areas of expertise to be varied as well. If you believe in fair opportunities and want to develop meaningful and humanizing connections, let's talk.
In this role, you are committing to one session at a time, you can select your own cadence of engagement. We ask that once you do commit to a class or event session you follow through as space is limited.
Email us to sign up at [email protected]
Coach our people in the community
Are you someone who likes to share your expertise? This is the role for you. Post-Release Coaches are called upon based on a case-by-case basis. Post-Release Coaches are connected with our people in need of support in the coaches area of expertise for a one-time meeting.Our four areas are Career Development, Character Development, Life Skills and the Entrepreneurial Mindset. If the majority of our Exemplars are in need of support in a particular area, a Post-Release Coach could be asked to run a workshop for a small group.
In this role, you are committing to one session at a time, no long term or ongoing sessions are required following the session you participated in, meaning, you can select your own cadence of engagement. We do ask that once you have committed to a mentoring session or workshop you follow through on your commitment.
Email us to sign up at [email protected]
