For many people, a criminal record is an indication of past behavior. Yet long after a sentence has been served, probation completed, and life rebuilt, that record often continues to determine the future. Even if they are doing the hard work and creating stability in their life.
Every job application. Every housing application. Every background check becomes another reminder that while they may have moved forward, society often has not.
The Excel Center is a free public high school for adults, offering individuals who have left high school the opportunity to earn their diploma while preparing for a career or college — earning dual credit or an industry recognized certification. Students receive personalized support, flexible scheduling, and careerfocused education designed to help them build a better future. Those who work at The Excel Center hold the core belief that people are not defined by the worst decision they have ever made.
For students with justice involvement, their future often comes with additional obstacles. A criminal record can continue to create barriers long after someone has accepted responsibility and turned their life around. Through the Justice Involved Coaching Model (JICM), The Excel Center works alongside students to identify and remove the barriers that stand between them and the lives they are working so hard to create.
That’s why we partnered with LEO to study the impact of career and reintegration coaching for justice-involved students. Specifically, the LEO researchers are keen to measure its effect on students’ likelihood of recidivating, educational persistence, and employment.
The Excel Center’s Justice Involved Coaching Model (JICM) doesn’t define students by their records. Instead, we begin by asking a different question: What is standing in the way of your goals?
The answer to that question is different for each individual. It could be transportation, housing, community resources, employment, or help navigating the legal system. The JICM steps in to support each student with each individual challenge.
The work is individualized because every student is an individual.
One of those students was Charley Johnson, a 36-year-old mother of two, determined to build a better future for herself and her family.
Ten years earlier, Charley had made mistakes that resulted in a criminal record. Although those mistakes were well behind her, they remained a barrier every time she tried to move forward. She wanted a career in healthcare and was committed to earning her Pharmacy Technician (Pharm Tech) certification—one of the career pathways students can pursue while attending The Excel Center. But her record threatened to keep that goal out of reach.
Graduating from The Excel Center requires more than earning a high school diploma. Every student also completes an industry-recognized certification or earns dual college credits, ensuring they leave prepared for meaningful employment or continued education. For Charley, becoming a Pharm Tech represented more than a certification. It represented stability, purpose, and an opportunity to provide for her family.
Working with the JICM, Charley was able to pursue an expungement of her record. Removing that legal barrier opened the door to the healthcare career she had been working toward for years.
“I did not initially believe I could get over this hurdle in my life and felt I would always be stuck,” Charley says. “But getting my Pharmacy Tech license and walking into an interview with my head held high was life-changing.”
The expungement did not erase the work she had done to change her life—it recognized it. For the first time in years, Charley was no longer defined by a mistake from her past, but by the future she had worked so hard to build.
Stories like Charley’s remind us that rehabilitation is not simply about serving time. It is about creating opportunities for people to fully rejoin their communities. When barriers remain long after accountability has been accepted, they can prevent individuals from contributing their talents, supporting their families and their communities, and reaching their potential.
The Justice Involved program exists because second chances require more than encouragement. They require action. Every student’s path is different, and there is no checklist that solves every challenge. Some students need help navigating the legal system. Others need connections to employers willing to look beyond a background check. Others need support accessing housing, transportation, or community
resources that make it possible to stay in school and remain focused on their goals.
Betsy Delago, senior vice president & chief mission and education officer at Excel Center, says, “At Excel Center, we believe transformation happens when people are given opportunity, support, and someone who believes in their potential. The Justice Involved Coaching Model reflects that belief by helping students overcome barriers that have followed them for years and empowering them to build meaningful careers, strengthen their families, and create brighter futures.”
The Excel Center’s role is to help remove the barriers that keep that future just out of reach. Because everyone deserves to be seen for who they are becoming — not just what they once did.