Helping Formerly Incarcerated People Build Businesses, Create Capital and Secure Jobs: Defy Ventures

In celebration of our partners and the great work they do to advance economic progress for all, we interviewed some of our Nasdaq Foundation grant recipients about their roles, backgrounds and the importance of their work. We spoke with Andrew Glazier, CEO of Defy Ventures, on its vision to shift the biases against the formerly incarcerated and cut recidivism in half, by leveraging entrepreneurship to increase economic opportunity and transform their lives.

Tell us about Defy Ventures. What is its core mission?

Defy Ventures is a national non-profit with a mission to shift mindsets, to give people with criminal histories their best shot at a second chance, and to cut recidivism in half by leveraging entrepreneurship to increase economic opportunity and transform lives. Defy's entrepreneurship, career readiness, and personal development training programs are helping currently, and formerly incarcerated people defy the odds in communities and correctional facilities across the country. Because public attitudes toward people with criminal histories affect their chances of success post-incarceration, Defy recruits business executives and leaders as volunteers, and as employer partners, to shift the conversation. As business leaders begin to see formerly incarcerated people as an untapped talent pool for employment or investment, this changes the landscape of opportunity for this population and creates greater economic opportunity for all.

Why is Defy Ventures' mission so important? 

More than 5million formerly incarcerated people live in the United States, and an estimated 600,000 make the challenging transition from correctional facilities to the community every year. 95% of those incarcerated in U.S. prisons will be released at some point. However, recidivism rates are as high as 50% in some states, with research showing unemployment to be a key factor, further perpetuating cycles of poverty and incarceration.

Defy is committed to creating the conditions for formerly incarcerated people to access opportunities to build businesses, create capital and secure good jobs. Research shows that individuals with a criminal history face as many as 45,000 collateral consequences upon reentry into their community.

The purpose of our program is to create pathways for currently and formerly incarcerated people to productive lives of purpose, and by doing that, to dramatically reduce recidivism and mass incarceration in our country. Our program model aims to help individuals overcome barriers to their success as they transform their lives, ultimately breaking cycles of poverty and recidivism for families and communities.

We seek to also engage corporate America in this – they are an integral part of the solution. When we engage members of the business community as volunteers in our programs, we are bringing their experiences and social networks to support the success of our Entrepreneurs in Training, but more importantly, we are changing their perceptions of justice-involved individuals, helping them overcome their fears and become employers and investors.

We know that economic opportunity is a pre-requisite for people staying out of prison,and this population represents an untapped talent pool that can help solve the talent shortage in America today.

What impact are you hoping the Nasdaq Foundation’s Quarterly Grant will have on the Pathway to Entrepreneurship program’s success? 

In addition to supporting our ongoing programing, the Nasdaq Quarterly Grant is supporting the expansion of the program to our newest chapter that supports currently and formerly incarcerated people in Pennsylvania and Delaware.

Can you share one or two stories that illustrate the impact of Defy Ventures?

Nhut V. (Noumenon Nhut) is the founder of Redemption Tales. While incarcerated, Nhut took part in the Pawsitive Change Program, which gave him the opportunity to live with and train rescue dogs. Through this experience, Nhut developed a deep skill set in dog training and learned that he could change his life and the lives of others. 

Prior to his release, Nhut’s parents adopted two dogs that he trained. Despite being afraid of dogs when Nhut was growing up, his parents quickly fell in love with the dogs. Nhut saw how important his work with the dogs really was: he could shift people’s mindsets about dogs that previously had behavioral issues and help them develop a loving bond with them.  

After completing Defy’s CEO of Your New Life program while incarcerated, Nhut became determined to start a dog training company upon his release. To help make his vision a reality, Nhut completed Defy’s intensive Business Accelerator Program in Fall 2022. Nhut now sees himself not only as not only a person providing a dog training service but as the CEO of a company that can scale to help many people establish stronger relationships with their dogs. In the next 12 months, Nhut plans to expand to a storefront business. He now has one employee and is offering a variety of services for both dog owners and shelters.

What do you envision for the future of the Pathway to Entrepreneurship program?

We hope to continue to expand our program to make it available to all formerly incarcerated people in every state in America. As we grow the numbers of individuals who can build businesses through our program, we see a future in which this growing community of successful entrepreneurs are truly given a fair chance to contribute and succeed and have access to the same resources as any other entrepreneur.

The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.

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