Orijin

Each year, more than 650,000 people are released from prison in the U.S. When the gates open up, how do these individuals adjust to “normal” life? Orijin aims to empower former inmates by providing essential education and skills training for long-term career sustainability, post-release, to tens of thousands of incarcerated learners. Known until earlier this year as APDS, the organization serves customers across 18 states and the District of Columbia and delivers products and services to hundreds of facilities across the nation. Since 2018 the organization has served over 111,000 incarcerated learners. (Around 15% of Orijin’s own staff are former inmates, making them particularly helpful ambassadors to their clients.)

Orijin provides services and technology, including secure tablet computers connected to cloud-based learning platforms, for free to former incarcerated learners. Orijin’s key partnerships include a contract with the Massachusetts Department of Correction to support 6,000 people with educational and career-readiness courses; and a collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS) that enables its students to acquire foundational skills for working in cloud computing.