bold idea
Reduce recidivism and increase job-readiness for formerly incarcerated youth by using food trucks to employ and teach transferable job and leadership skills to young people leaving the adult criminal justice system.
organization overview
Drive Change builds and operates state-of-the art food trucks that hire and empower formerly incarcerated youth, ages sixteen through twenty-five. Drive Change uses the food truck industry to provide quality employment and teach transferable skill learning to young people returning home from adult jail or prison so they can access opportunity and live crime-free, bright futures. Drive Change’s six-to-eight month transitional jobs re-entry program works with approximately thirty young people annually (by way of their award winning Snowday Food Truck). Drive Change’s plan is to build a food truck commissary where other like-minded businesses will park, receive industry benefits, and hire young people out of the program. This commissary will allow Drive Change to create a fleet of food trucks for social justice and expand the program to over 100 people per year. After proving the commissary infrastructure model, Drive Change plans to scale it to other cities in order to turn more red lights green for young people returning home.
Personal Bio
6 Word Bio: Not Cut Out For The Sidelines
Jordyn is the Founder and Executive Director of Drive Change, a non-profit and social enterprise that uses the hospitality industry to run a paid-Fellowship for formerly incarcerated youth. After teaching at the public high school on Rikers Island for three years and witnessing the traumatic effects of adult jail on youth, Jordyn came up with the concept of Drive Change in 2012. Jordyn holds a Bachelor’s of Arts in English Literature from Wesleyan University and a Masters in Education from Pace University. Jordyn is a 2015 Black Male Achievement (BMA) Echoing Green Fellow.
Jordyn stepped down from the CEO position in 2021.
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