Re-entry Program Will Help Inmates Secure Jobs Once Released
Sometimes having someone to relate to, who also wants to help, makes all the difference in a person’s life — especially if they have been in and out of prison and are looking to end that cycle.
Helping inmates learn a trade, life skills and make the transition from prison to the workforce is exactly what Chef Fernando Ruiz and Ralph Martinez, co-founders of the Entrepreneurial Institute of Northern New Mexico Re-entry Program are hoping to do.
With the help of Jamai Blivin, founder and CEO of Innovate+Educate, a non-profit organization that for the past 16 years has been helping people develop skills, the trio is embarking on a re-entry program focused on helping friends learn culinary skills, while also helping with job placement. The program will launch on April 1.
It’s an idea that’s been in the works for the past two-and-a-half years, Martinez said. However, there were many working parts that were needed to come together to make the dream a reality. The first step was getting seed money.
“We applied for junior bill funding, not this legislative session, but during the prior legislative session,” Martinez said. “Rep. Andrea Romero (D-Santa Fe) allocated $75,000 to help us as seed money to help launch the program. We’ve not only been connecting the dots on logistics and supporters the past several years, but we’ve also been watching the money take its natural course and its process. Everything came together at the right time, about a week-and-a-half ago.”
The program began to take shape when Ruiz pitched the idea to Martinez. They have worked on various projects in Española, such as the Kids Care Box initiative, Senior Care Box initiative, Secret Santa and Española Community Matanza.
A couple years ago, the two were talking and Ruiz told Martinez that he’d love to share his talent and what he’s learned along the way with others. The two agreed that a re-entry program would be amazing, so they sat down and talked with Blivin about it.
“She actually thought that the idea was an amazing idea,” Martinez said.
Ruiz said Blivin was getting ready to retire, but was gracious enough to take on the project.
“If it wasn’t for Jamai, we wouldn’t know what we’re doing,” Ruiz said. “We wouldn’t be able to get this off the ground. She’s the brains behind the whole thing. She doesn’t like to be on camera, she doesn’t want to be acknowledged for what she’s doing, but she needs to be.”
The beginning
The initial idea was to do a culinary program inside the prison in Santa Fe and in prisons there and in Rio Arriba County, so when the women and men were released, they would have a job waiting for them, Ruiz said.
And while that is still the plan, they are now looking at an in-facility cohort and an out-of-facility cohort.
“In facility will be in prison,” Ruiz said. “We’ll go in, get a 15-individual cohort, put them through six weeks, get them graduated, accredited and certified, then we’ll start a new cohort. But for the cohort that has graduated, that’s where Jamai comes in with the pro-life skills. She’ll work with them at building a resume, get them prepared for interviews, then when they’re six months from getting out of prison, we’ll start helping them apply for positions.”
The goal is to get them interviews while they are still in prison and get them a job before they get out, which means they’ll go directly from prison to the workforce.
“I’ll be one of the main instructors,” Ruiz said. “I have plenty of other chefs who are willing to help as instructors. We’ll just kind of split them up and maybe rotate them throughout the curriculum.”
He said it’s a very straight-forward curriculum that doesn’t require a lot of book work or tests. Instead, it’s 90% hands-on.
The curriculum being used went through the Public Education Department and got certified, so now the Entrepreneurial Institute of Northern New Mexico is the sole owner of the curriculum, meaning no one else can teach it.
Martinez said they are grateful for all the support they have received.
“As I said, we’ve been piecing this initiative together for the past over two years, but we’ve had the opportunity to sit down and talk with a number of individuals and plant the seed and water the seed as time has gone by ,” Martinez said.
Ruiz said the staff at the Kitchen Table, a commercial kitchen facility on Alarid Street in Santa Fe, has been especially helpful. Ultimately, they will be doing evening classes there.
Choosing cohorts
Ruiz said prison administrators will give them recommendations for inmates who might be a good fit for the program, however, it will ultimately be up to the individual to choose to participate.
“They need to want the help,” Ruiz said. “It’s not up to Ralph or I. It’s not up to their parents or grandparents. It’s up to the individual. I just want them to leave knowing that they learned something, even if they don’t follow the whole culinary arts career.”
Ruiz and Martinez have also spoken with restaurant owners from Santa Fe, all the way up to the Colorado border, in hopes of getting them to help with employment opportunities once the inmates complete the program. Because Ruiz is well-known in the culinary world, his reputation has helped build relationships with restaurant owners, Martinez said.
“We haven’t run across one restaurant owner that has said, ‘let me think about it,’ ” he said. “We’ve got nothing but positive responses from individuals who have said, ‘we’ll definitely take them in. We’ll definitely take a look at that.’ ”
Ruiz’s reputation in the culinary world comes partly, from being a three-time Food Network champion: He was the winner of “Guy’s Grocery Games” in 2015, “Chopped” in 2016, and “Beat Bobby Flay” in 2019. But also from working in various Santa Fe restaurants, to include Santa Café and Palace Prime. He’s in the process of opening his own restaurant in June called Escondido.
They can relate
Ruiz said this program will be helpful to the hospitality industry because there’s a shortage of workers and “to be honest, like most of the people working in kitchens already have a criminal background.”
“It’s an environment in which they are welcomed, so that’s a big step in creating those opportunities for them,” Martinez said.
Ruiz and Martinez can both relate to the challenges the inmates face. Ruiz spent four years in prison in Arizona and Martinez was in and out of prison and addicted to drugs for 11 years and homeless for six.
“Both chefs and I know how easy it is to fall into a situation and how hard it can be to get out of that situation,” Martinez said. “But we also know the healing that comes along with putting your lives back together.”
Ruiz said he developed an interest in cooking while he was in prison. He also got his GED there.
“I was working in kitchens while being incarcerated, that’s kind of where I picked it up, I thought it was easy,” he said.
He believes having a skill set to fall back on once an inmate gets out of jail is important because when he was in and out of jail, there were no programs like the one they were launching.
“We had halfway houses, which are probably worse because there are more drugs and alcohol in a halfway house,” he said. “There was no programs. I never heard of programs coming in and out of prison. The worst thing you can hear walking out of jail is the last prison guard who opens the door to let you out of jail who says, ‘see you next time’ or ‘see you when you get back.’ That was the best advice we could get. And what does that do to an individual on his way to getting his freedom back?”
He said he’s not a counselor, but he’s lived that life.
“If you’re screwing up, you’re going to go back to jail or prison,” he said. “Everyone knows right from wrong and good from bad.”
Originally from Arizona, Ruiz has lived in New Mexico for 24 years, but he’s lived in Española for 20 of those years. Martinez is an Española native.
Future plans
The duo hopes to maybe launch a culinary school in Santa Fe or Española in the future.
“If the culinary school evolves, I’d want it to evolve in Española,” Ruiz said.
They have spoken with Northern New Mexico College President Hector Balderas about the possibility, but realize that the plan is something that will take time.
In the meantime, they are going to focus on the re-entry program. The participants will receive a $1,500 monthly stipend and the organization will purchase all their kitchen equipment, from chef coats to knife sets, which they will be able to take with them after successfully completing the six-week course.
Ruiz said the ultimate goal is for the participants to learn something from the program and to be successful.
“At the end of the day, when you cook food at home or whatever, it brings people together…” he said.
