Michael ‘Saadiq’ Cannon

“The truth is, I had always had a good educational upbringing, and a good family. But the allure of the streets just got me at an early age and it led me down a wrong path.”

“While I was incarcerated, I went back to those educational roots. I poured myself into rehabilitating myself and becoming the best version of myself I could be.”

“That gave me notoriety as a mentor and as someone who was trying to improve myself. I believe that path led me to Kewanee Life Skills Reentry Center, where I met Ricky Hamilton, my business partner.”

“Very quickly, we realized we had a lot of the same ideas. We started designing what successful reentry would look like for ourselves and those around us.”

“Through a first-of-its-kind entrepreneurship program at Kewanee, we had the opportunity to develop those reentry plans into a business idea, which would eventually become Got Jobs America.”

“Got Jobs America is a workforce development and reentry solutions agency. We offer innovative solutions to all stakeholders in the workforce development and reentry ecosystem.”

“Our thinking is, there has always been an effective system for getting people into prison, but not a cohesive system for when they get out to help them achieve self-sustainability.”

“Right now, this is a pool of untapped talent and resources. There are 77 million justice-impacted individuals in the United States, a greater population than 10 NATO countries. The unemployment rate in this population is worse than during the Great Depression.”

“And by all statistics, the labor shortage across the country in all industries will continue to worsen to 2030 and beyond. So, we have a unique opportunity to address an economic problem and a social problem in our country with the same solution.”

“There’s a direct correlation between poverty and recidivism. So, we are starting with an economic engine, a real poverty solution, by connecting people with jobs. Jobs address the instability that is the root of a lot of other problems.”

“All the stakeholders benefit – the employers, the justice system, the people in reentry. You connect these people to stable employment and you really move the needle forward as a poverty solution.”

Michael “Saadiq” Cannon
Co-founder, Got Jobs America
Chicago Heights, Illinois