2016 High Road Fellows

Photo: Elizabeth Easter

Elizabeth Easter

BSILR ‘18

Center for Employment Opportunities

Williamsville, NY

For more than 30 years, the Center for Employment Opportunities’ goal has been to provide immediate, comprehensive, and effective employment services for men and women returning from incarceration. CEO offers comprehensive employment services exclusively for people with criminal records. CEO’s model is based on a highly structured program of life skill education, short-term paid transitional employment, full-time job placement, and post-placement services.

Work Highlights

  • Analyzed the demographics of CEO participants, previously incarcerated individuals, compared to the general Buffalo population through Census data.  
  • Used CEO’s Salesforce database to analyze and compile a profile of CEO participants.
  • Created an interactive mapping tool showing the geographic breakdown of CEO participants in the Buffalo area by zip code.  
  • Compiled the findings into a report detailing information such as placement rates, wages earned, and parole violations among the geographic locations of CEO participants. The report also included analysis that measured retention rates and job placements for CEO participants.

In their words

“Even though I’ve lived in Buffalo my whole life, I’ve learned more about its struggles, and how to implement change in an equitable manner. I’ve also learned that I most likely want to pursue a career in public policy, and that Buffalo’s non-profit sector is expansive and offered me a really valuable learning experience.”

Impact

"We are so thankful and proud of the work Liz Easter did while here at CEO. Liz's work has been referenced in grants and in statewide reports. The Cornell High Road Program is an exceptional opportunity for organizations to work with our future leaders in our community"  

Jeff Conrad,
Center for Employment Opportunities