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Louisiana panel at Untapped Summit presses for mentorships, funding and cross‑agency action
Summary
A Louisiana reaction panel urged a whole‑of‑government approach to scale prison education to employment: strengthen mentorship programs, reexamine MJ Foster scholarship eligibility, stack federal funding streams and legislate employer protections and data systems in 2026.
Panelists at the Untapped Talent Summit urged Louisiana policymakers to translate in‑facility education into real job opportunities by coordinating state agencies, expanding employer engagement and addressing funding and eligibility barriers.
Dr. Kim Hunter Reid, commissioner at the Louisiana Board of Regents, said education must align with labor-market demands and called for work-based learning—internships, apprenticeships and meaningful facility work—that mirrors opportunities outside prisons. “We have good education programs, we need the employment,” Reid said.
Senator Rick Edmonds and Marybeth Derickson of the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry both stressed practical next steps: Edmonds prioritized data collection about inmates’ remaining sentences and skills to create targeted pathways; Derickson urged bringing more businesses into second‑chance hiring, saying “we need the entire business community bought in.”
Funding and eligibility challenges: panelists identified the MJ Foster Promise scholarship program as constrained by eligibility exclusions for people with certain convictions and by limited funding to scale services. Dr. Reid and others recommended exploring stacking federal funding (including the incoming workforce funds and second‑chance Pell) with state scholarships and local wraparound supports to create a sustainable financing model.
Why it matters: Louisiana’s panelists recommended legislative attention in 2026 to remove statutory and administrative barriers, provide liability protections for employers, expand scholarship eligibility and require better cross‑agency coordination among the Board of Regents, the department of corrections, education and workforce agencies.
Next steps: panelists urged convening legislative leadership, agency heads and employer representatives to design targeted bills and budget proposals for the 2026 session and to pilot mentorship programs across parishes.
The panel closed with a call for practical, data‑driven steps rather than rhetoric: coordinate funding, clarify eligibility and commit business leaders to mentorship and hiring pathways.
