Working as a chaplain at Farmington Correctional Center, Kalen McAllister learned that many men feared being unable to get a job once released. So after she retired, she opened Laughing Bear Bakery in St. Louis, a nonprofit business where a criminal record is a job requirement. With $2,000 from friends, a permit from the health department, and two employees, the bakery was born in 2015 out of a rented incubator kitchen. "I think there's a lot of people who are willing to give second chances, and the bakery helped me see that," says Eric Satterfield, who is now on the board of directors. Of 37 employees hired since 2015, only three or four have been asked to leave, usually for drug use. In hiring, McAllister looks for people who are ready to change. "When people truly care about you, you blossom," she says. "Your best self comes out. That is the absolute truth."
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