You run a workforce-development program serving people who have been involved with the criminal-justice system — helping participants reenter the workforce through training, employer engagement, and case-management work — and serve as the senior program voice.
OWDPM work threads across participant engagement, employer partnership, and program-operations oversight — sitting with participants on barriers to employment, building employer partnerships willing to hire from the program, supporting case-management staff, working with funders and partners on program performance. Placement outcomes and recidivism reduction anchor the operating measures.
The harder part is often the employer-engagement reality — many employers carry blanket policies excluding people with criminal records, and program managers spend significant effort building partnerships willing to hire from the program. Variance across employers is real: state workforce agencies and community-action agencies run OWDP work; nonprofit reentry organizations run programs tied to specific funding (federal, state, foundation); some specialty programs focus on specific populations or industries.
It fits people mission-driven about reentry, comfortable across employer-relations work, and emotionally durable through difficult participant circumstances. CWDP and reentry-specific credentials anchor advancement. The trade-off is the cumulative emotional load — reentry work involves sustained engagement with people facing significant barriers, and the role asks for real personal resources across years.
Don't know if you want to stay in your job?
Get your career on record. Then decide.
Where this role sits in the broader career landscape — and where it can take you.
Turn your career record
into a springboard for growth.
Roles like this one sit within a broader occupational category. The numbers below reflect that full landscape — helpful for context, but your specific experience will depend on level, specialty, and where you work.
Roles with similar work and overlapping career paths
View all Social Services roles →You run a workforce-development program serving people who have been involved with the criminal-justice system — helping participants reenter the workforce through training, employer engagement, and case-management work — and serve as the senior program voice.
Median pay for an Offender Workforce Development Program Manager (OWDPM) is about $78K nationally, with the field ranging roughly from $50K to $130K depending on experience, employer, and metro (BLS).
Core skills for this role include Social Perceptiveness, Service Orientation, Management of Personnel Resources, Time Management, and Judgment and Decision Making.
Most people in this role hold a bachelor's degree.
Employment in this field is projected to grow about 6.4% through 2034, with roughly 195,490 people working in it today (BLS).
Closely related roles include Development Director, Field Service Representative, and Field Representative.
Do one small thing to grow in your career this week. Pick one of these; each comes with the words to use.
More career advice
We believe careers grow through small steps taken often, more than big leaps. So we’ve collected hundreds of them for you to try.
Browse career adviceDon't do Truest if you aren't ready
to invest in yourself and your career.