New York, NY— The Doe Fund announced that it received a $350,000 donation from Sony Corporation of America (SCA), which will go to supporting the nonprofit’s commitment to ending mass incarceration while supporting its new culinary arts and skilled trade job training programs. The donation is part of a larger social justice campaign, and comes from Sony’s Global Social Justice Fund on behalf of Sony Group Corporation and Sony’s companies in the United States, including Sony Music Entertainment, Sony Music Publishing, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Sony Interactive Entertainment and Sony Electronics.

“The Doe Fund is committed to ending mass incarceration,” said The Doe Fund President Harriet Karr-McDonald. “Our programs are proven to reduce the chance of recidivism among graduates by 62% and provide a pathway to end intergenerational poverty. Furthermore, we founded our partner nonprofit The Liberty Fund to champion bail reform while providing charitable bail and release on recognizance services.” 

She continued, “But more must still be done. To end the school-to-prison pipeline and address lack of economic opportunity, upstream investments must be made into communities of color that have been neglected for generations. These include the services we provide alongside jobs, education, infrastructure, and the repeal of inequitable drug and sentencing laws.” 

The courses supported with this donation are from the organization’s Ready, Willing & Able reentry program for homeless and formerly incarcerated men. Participants begin by working on cleaning crews across 115 miles of NYC streets daily before transitioning to career training tracks. Ready, Willing & Able participants also receive housing, computer literacy training, adult education, and comprehensive social services. 

The culinary arts program is a 12-week course consisting of foundational kitchen techniques followed by a Chef in Training class taught by NYC chefs. The skilled trade programs—currently available for welding and carpentry, with more fields on the horizon—consist of 5-15 week courses multiple times per year, which establish the fundamentals of these trades before transitioning participants to apprenticeships and, later, to union memberships.

“We are proud to support the great work of the The Doe Fund and their groundbreaking Ready, Willing & Able residential program,” said Karen Kelso, Senior Director, Corporate Social Responsibility, Sony Corporation of America. “Our contribution will enable men with long histories of incarceration, homelessness and unemployment successfully reintegrate into society and  improve their lives.”

“By introducing courses for skilled trades facing deep hiring shortages, we can provide a reliable pathway to upwardly mobile jobs, union membership, comprehensive benefits, and job security,” said Jennifer Dillon, Vice President of Workforce Development at The Doe Fund. “Sony’s contribution will help us further innovate our curriculum towards sectors that are more resistant to economic ebbs and flows, such as by pivoting our culinary arts training to include job placements in institutional kitchens and emergency food delivery.”