Arizona Recognizes April as Second Chance Month

As proclaimed by Governor Katie Hobbs, April is Second Chance Month. This celebration is a fantastic opportunity to highlight all of the resources available to justice-involved individuals to successfully return to the community and achieve success. Please join us in recognizing this cross-agency initiative!

View the 2026 Second Chance Month Proclamation

The following is the text of the proclamation.

Whereas, an estimated 1.8 million Americans, including roughly 52,000 Arizonans, are incarcerated at any given time; and 

Whereas, any criminal record, which can include an arrest record, criminal charge, adjudication, conviction, or time served in jail or prison, can have an impact on a person's economic mobility; and

Whereas, nearly all individuals in state prisons, approximately 93%, will one day return to their communities, making successful reintegration a critical priority for Arizona's public safety, economic growth, and social stability; and 

Whereas, every individual who has served their time and paid their debt to society deserves a meaningful second chance, one that provides access to opportunity, economic mobility, and the tools necessary to work toward a stable and productive future for themselves; and 

Whereas, many individuals who are released from custody face significant barriers to obtaining employment and housing, including gaps in workforce skills, lack of educational credentials, and challenges related to behavioral health and substance use disorder; and

Whereas, in 2025, I signed Executive Order 2025-08, signing onto the Council of State Governments' Reentry 2030 Initiative and tasked my State agencies to pursue workforce-policy-related goals, including the goal of increasing the population leaving a prison with an industry-recognized credential, certification or apprenticeship by thirty percent, and the goal of increasing the number of individuals employed one year post incarceration by twenty percent; and

Whereas, my administration established the Reentry 2030 Agency Working Group with representatives from the Departments of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry (ADCRR); Juvenile Corrections (ADJC); Economic Security (DES); Housing (ADOH); and Transportation (ADOT); and from the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO), who together comprise the agencies pursuing the Governor's workforce development Reentry 2030 goals; and

Whereas, in the one year since the launch of the Reentry 2030 Initiative: ADCRR facilitated 4,531 Career and Technical Education and Workforce Development program completions in 2025; significantly expanded its Peer Support efforts, certifying 478 incarcerated individuals as Peer Support Specialists; empowered individuals to earn 241 industry-recognized credentials or college degrees in 2025; assisted nearly 1,000 individuals through Employment, Housing & Reentry Resource Fairs in our local communities; partnered with community organizations to provide professional Substance Use and Alcohol Treatment services to 10,733 individuals on Community Supervision; and realized a generational transformation of Arizona Correctional Industries to focus on providing incarcerated individuals with industry-recognized credentials and connections to jobs upon release, including by establishing 38 workforce development programs in 2025 for its more than 1,500 inmate workers; ADJC supported 16 incarcerated youth in earning Absolute Discharge; celebrated the graduation of 19 youth with high school diplomas or GEDs; enabled 31 youth to receive State ID Cards prior to their release; and expedited healthcare for youth released back to the community by facilitating 33 provider intake appointments prior to release; DES graduated, in cooperation with ARIZONA@WORK, more than 1,200 Second Chance Center Participants prior to their release from ADCRR custody, 600 of whom found gainful employment post release with DES support; engaged more than 800 individuals during their incarceration through the Resource Employment Development program, 380 of whom moved onto gainful employment post release; and served more than 5,000 Arizonans with criminal justice involvement through our Community Based ReEntry Services, 2,700 of whom found gainful employment after participation; OEO activated the Governor's Workforce Arizona Council member networks to bring employers, workforce, education, and economic development together to increase pathways to direct placement opportunities; and promoted the talent potential of justice involved individuals to employers by connecting them to ARIZONA@WORK supportive services; ADOT and, in particular, its Motor Vehicle Division collaborated with DES, ADCRR, and other state and county partners to improve reentry outcomes, including by: providing support to individuals obtaining a Commercial Drivers License (CDL) permit prior to reentry by facilitating document collection, knowledge testing, and CDL permit issuance; streamlining processes for working with ADCRR to improve incarcerated individuals' ability to access State-issued identification upon release; and establishing partnerships with State and county entities to leverage MVD's teleMVD technology to further improve access to identification; ADOH continued leading its collective impact initiative toward the goal to ensure that, by 2030, every individual transitioning from the justice system has a pathway to stable housing, including by: establishing a unified data sharing platform among ADOH partners; adopting a standardized definition of homelessness across DES, AHCCCS, Adult and Juvenile Probation Departments, and the Administrative Office of the Courts; and leveraging the Data Warehouse Enterprise for Linkage Arizona to identify service gaps, align agency responsibilities, and proactively prevent institutional discharges into homelessness; AHCCCS launched a new program with ADJC to pay for community based medical services for incarcerated youth 30 days before their release; ADHS collaborated with ADCRR to streamline processing of requests for birth certificates, prioritizing applications for individuals from affiliated facilities, noting that a birth certificate is an essential document for individuals seeking a state-issued ID and for employment; and our State agencies have achieved these outcomes as a result of the collective efforts of the Reentry 2030 working group to coordinate across programs and to align long-term planning around core objectives and strategic goals articulated in the State of Arizona's Reentry 2030 Strategy for Fiscal Year 2026; and

Whereas, research has shown that expanding access to education programs, job training programs, and substance use treatment in correctional settings reduces recidivism rates; and 

Whereas, community support for this endeavor exists within a robust collaborative comprised of federal, state, county, city and local community stakeholders who have joined together to focus on reentry issues; and

Whereas, Arizona remains committed to innovative and collaborative efforts that promote economic mobility and reduce barriers for individuals seeking a fresh start, paving the way for a stronger, more inclusive future for all.

Now therefore, I, Katie Hobbs, Governor of the State of Arizona, do hereby proclaim April 1 - 30, 2026, as Second Chance Month.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and 
caused to be affixed the Great Seal of the State of Arizona

Governor

Done at the Capitol in Phoenix on this eighteenth day of March in
the year Two Thousand and Twenty-Six, and of the
Independence of the United States of America, the Two
Hundred and Fiftieth.

Attest:

Secretary of State