Posted in News
The Georgetown Pivot Program and two program alumni were prominently featured in a Washington Business Journal December 2022 cover spread, which delves into the many employment hurdles – and the rarer opportunities – for people who are incarcerated or who are returning to their communities.
Two of those opportunities are the Georgetown Pivot Program and the MORCA-Georgetown Paralegal Program, which both provide education and professional training to individuals with past convictions.
The package of stories by Hannah Denham, published on Dec. 16., include profiles of Pivot alumni Maya Moore and Muhammad Al-Mahdi, who both graduated in the program’s fourth cohort in 2022. Moore and Al-Mahdi shared their own distinct journeys pursuing their passions and professional goals while simultaneously navigating the challenges of reentry.
“Both Maya and Muhammad are great examples of the kinds of people we get to work with in the Pivot Program: talented, hardworking, ambitious,” said Pivot Program Executive Director Alyssa Lovegrove. “It’s tremendously exciting to watch their careers take shape and to be able to support and guide them.”
Through the Pivot Program, Moore, Al-Mahdi and dozens of other talented individuals who had previously been incarcerated have gained comprehensive leadership and professional development training, with a focus on business and entrepreneurship. The goal of the Pivot Program is to prepare its participants for career opportunities that might have otherwise been out of reach.
For Moore and Al-Mahdi, the program and the months after graduation led them down two very different paths, and Moore’s story illustrates some of the barriers that people with past convictions face when seeking employment.
The article also features David Rider, a graduate of the MORCA-Georgetown Paralegal Program and a paralegal at law firm Outten & Golden.
Read the full article here.
Maya Moore: Mindset, Music, and the Power of Listening
February 18th, 2022
Today, Maya Moore finds herself in a Pivot Program classroom, taking classes on business, leadership, professional development, and entrepreneurship. It’s a dramatic change in circumstances from where she was just one year ago. When Moore returned home after her incarceration, she made a promise to herself: She would never go back to prison.…
Muhammad Al-Mahdi: Reentering the Workplace in a Tech World
May 3rd, 2022
When Muhammad Al-Mahdi was released from prison in 2020, he had never seen an iPhone, used Amazon, or scrolled on a Facebook feed.…
