Carlos is a recent participant and graduate of Pioneer Human Services’ Roadmap to Success (RTS) program in Spokane. The job-readiness training....Read more >>
Our Mission: We are a social enterprise that partners with communities to transform society by honoring the humanity of people, reducing the impact of discriminatory mass incarceration and empowering people to live safe, healthy, productive lives through inspiration, affirmation and by overturning barriers.
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Labels Create Barriers
We believe that words are powerful and can be very stigmatizing and harmful when used to label our citizens who are or were formerly incarcerated. Let’s be clear, the individuals are first and foremost human beings!
We all need to remember that people released from prison or jail share common and descriptive names with everyone else in society to include: grandparent, parent, son and daughter, extended family member, friend, neighbor, colleague and employee. These are the only type of names that should ever be used to describe a person.
When talking about people who have been involved in the criminal justice system, here are labels to avoid and terms that are acceptable:
NEVER USE
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Convict |
ex-Con |
Inmate |
ex-Inmate |
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Offender |
ex-Offender |
Criminal |
NEWS
We were honored to be included in a series of videos produced by Upstart Media for HUD called, Homecoming: Life After Incarceration. There are three videos in this segment that are titled: Release, Housing and....Read more >>
We are pleased to share a client story from Kathleen M. Singleton-Apel, former case manager at the Spokane Residential Reentry Center . Pioneer....Read more >>
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Vision and Mission
Vision and Mission
Pioneer Human Services is a nonprofit (501c3) social enterprise. One-hundred percent of our revenues are reinvested within the organization.