second-chance-employment
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Firebrand Artisan Breads
Firebrand Artisan Breads is an Oakland-founded, Alameda-based wood-fired bakery that describes itself as a jobs program that happens to sell bread. Founded in 2008 by Matt Kreutz, it wholesales artisan breads and pastries to hundreds of Bay Area retailers - including Whole Foods - and runs a direct retail cafe. Its defining feature is an Open Hiring model that prioritizes people with high barriers to employment (formerly incarcerated, formerly homeless), paired with a perpetual purpose trust that locks the mission in permanently and shares profits with workers.
Vericool Inc.
Vericool is a Livermore, California packaging manufacturer that makes plant-based, curbside-recyclable and compostable thermal shippers designed to replace Styrofoam (EPS foam) in cold-chain shipping. Founded in 2015 by Darrell Jobe, the company builds insulated coolers and liners from recycled paper fiber and other renewable materials, sells to food-service, grocery, meal-delivery and pharmaceutical customers, and is known for a second-chance hiring model that employs formerly incarcerated people.