5 in 5: Sam Schaeffer, Center for Employment Opportunities’ Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer

Results for America Fellowship Alumni give five answers in five minutes. This month, we caught up with Sam Schaeffer, Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer for Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO).

1. Summarize what you do and how you do it.
   CEO provides employment services to individuals recently released from incarceration through a combination of paid transitional work and comprehensive case management.
2. Share something exciting that you’re working on.
   In April, CEO launched the largest-ever — and most likely first ever — cash assistance program for returning citizens. The initiative provides up to $2,750 in support for 10,000 people released during COVID. For many of the 8,000+ served to date, it has been their first opportunity to experience self-determination and they are making remarkable decisions to help support themselves and their families.
3. Tell us one thing you learned from someone else during your RFA Fellowship.
   I learned how many leaders work hard to continuously build evidence to make sure their organizations are providing the best, most responsive services for the communities they serve. I also learned that this journey is rarely linear, for any of us.
4. If you could wave a magic wand and have any data or evidence, what would it be?
   We increasingly know that there is a link between long-term employment and positive justice outcomes. With my magic wand, I’d like to know what impact CEO is having on the health, mental health, and overall wellness of the people we work with.
5. What’s the [pick-your-adjective] job you’ve ever had?
   The best job I have ever had is the one I have now, working alongside amazing colleagues at CEO.

Extra Question: How is CEO adapting its work in response to COVID-19 and urgent calls for racial equity?
The Returning Citizens Stimulus — our cash assistance program — has been a huge pivot for CEO. I am not sure how this will impact our work over the long term, but I am compelled by the idea of giving people the level of resource that is proportional to the challenges they face. One of our responses to urgent calls for racial equity is to engage our staff and participants more deeply in our policy efforts to reimagine the justice system. We are also working hard to create space for staff to process grief and trauma, and for staff — including myself — to become better allies.

Sam Schaeffer participated in Results for America’s What Works Nonprofit Fellowship.