'Reentry Simulator' program scheduled for May in Gering

GERING -- A program is scheduled for May to learn what its like for a felon to enter the workforce.

The program RISE is hosting a re-entry simulator where a person with a felony record can learn the challenges and roadblocks that often come with trying to return to the work world. 

The program will be held 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Friday, May 12, at the Gering Civic Center. 

Join RISE and the Nebraska Department of Labor for a Reentry Simulation in Western Nebraska. The Reentry Simulation is an exercise to help convey to employers, service providers and the community of the challenges and barriers when people return to the community after incarceration. 

People in this event will be given an assumed "identity" and will go through a series of assignments representing time passed and the tasks needed to go through reentry.

About RISE

RISE is the largest nonprofit in Nebraska focused on rehabilitative programming in prisons and reentry support. We prepare and train people for each phase through character development, employment readiness, job creation through entrepreneurship, family programming and case management.

The recidivism rate in Nebraska is 30.1 percent, according to World Population Review. The organization's website says recidivism is the tendency of a convicted criminal to repeat or reoffend a crime after already receiving punishment or serving their sentence. The term is often used in conjunction with substance abuse as a synonym for “relapse” but is specifically used for criminal behavior.

Factors contributing to recidivism include a person’s social environment and community, their circumstances before incarceration, events during their incarceration, and, one of the main reasons, difficulty adjusting back into normal life. Many of these individuals have trouble reconnecting with family and finding a job to support themselves.