Madison-area Urban Ministry’s “Just Bakery” is a vocational and employment training program specifically designed to meet the needs of men and women returning to the community after incarceration. The program provides classroom and hands on vocational training for men and women interested in food services careers and actual hands on training in the newly built commercial kitchen on Thierer Road in Madison, Wisconsin. Students assist in the creation of products, and in marketing and sales. Additional supportive services include job mentoring, and ongoing case management to ensure the individual’s other needs are being addressed. Just Bakery will also, to the extent possible, hire successful program participants to work in the program.

Each year approximately 1,700 men and women return to Dane County, Wisconsin from jail or prison. Annually 400-500 of them will come to Madison-area Urban Ministry for support in rebuilding their lives. Eighty percent of these men and women are homeless and unemployed when they walk through our doors. Research in the criminal justice field identifies housing and employment as critical to successful reintegration. Without employment, the barriers to housing are exacerbated.

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