YWCA of McLean County is closing its flagship job incubator for formerly incarcerated women.
The Bloomington nonprofit is ending Labyrinth Made Goods, a move necessitated by capacity, client needs and a shift in state grant funding.
The closure is connected to changes in YWCA’s priorities for its post-incarceration program called Labyrinth Reentry Services. The program now aims to provide more direct access to job training and mental health services for people preparing to leave prison. The initiative is part of a grant-funded job preparedness program training people for jobs in the clean energy sector.
Beginning in 2020, Labyrinth Made Goods produced bespoke, handmade soy candles and other fragrance products.
The umbrella reentry services program provides “anything and everything that women need to be able to reenter society successfully,” said YWCA President and CEO Liz German.
That includes support groups, transitional housing and other needs like obtaining a state ID or getting a job.
Labyrinth Made Goods launched as a retail enterprise within Labyrinth Reentry Services as part of that wrap-around support, giving women tools and experience toward gainful employment. That includes business creation, marketing and branding, financial management and project development.
The overarching goal of the program was to propel women out of minimum wage jobs.
“It was enabling women to be able to have something on their resume that was more skilled than most of what they would have been eligible for,” German said, “…and also a supportive environment. We could make sure they could make all of their probation appointments or their drug court requirements. In a lot of hourly, minimum wage jobs, you don’t have a lot of control over your time off.”
German said that type of support also reduces recidivism, which YWCA measures as a return to incarceration. According to German, about 6% of the women enrolled in Labyrinth programs returned to jail or prison between 2018 and 2024. The statewide recidivism rate in 2022 was 48%.
“And when we take a look at the reasons people reoffend, almost always those are due to people not being able to find gainful employment or somewhere to live,” said Alicia Whitworth, vice president of development and PR at YCWA McLean County. “If we were able to duplicate efforts like Labyrinth throughout the state rather than just specifically in McLean County, it would save Illinois taxpayers billions—with a ‘b’—annually.”
With the initiative set to end, all Labyrinth Made Goods products are available at a 90% discount until everything is gone. Select retailers in Bloomington-Normal carry the products, in addition to Labyrinth Made Goods’ online store.
Pivot prompted by funding and need
Labyrinth Made Goods was largely funded by a Restore, Reinvest, Review [R3] grant, which redirects a tax applied to cannabis sales in Illinois to communities harmed by violence, excessive incarceration and economic disinvestment. The grant also funded group sessions at McLean County Jail, temporarily ending YWCA’s engagement there. German said YWCA hopes to reapply for a new R3 grant when they again become eligible.
Funded by a more than half-million-dollar state grant from the Illinois Department of Health and Human Services, YWCA’s Adult Career Development program enrolls cohorts of individuals seeking careers in solar installation, electric vehicle technology, wind manufacturing or energy-efficient building maintenance.
But unlike Labyrinth Made Goods, incarcerated individuals who wish to enroll in the Adult Career Development program can start job training while still in prison. YWCA has cohorts at Logan, Decatur and Lincoln correctional centers, with services including a Wellness Action Recovery Plan designed to assist people with mental health and substance use disorders as they prepare to reenter society.
Whitworth said the training apprentices gained at Labyrinth Made Goods didn't always reduce barriers to gainful employment.
“Instead of apprenticeships through Labyrinth Made Goods, we have cohorts that are training in these realms that are hiring, hiring, hiring,” said Whitworth. “We see that need on the employer side of things, and we see a need for gainful, family-sustaining employment on the end of our clients.”
German said YWCA “tweaked” their existing workforce development program called Strive to develop a curriculum. Partnerships with Heartland Community College, Rivian and McLean County manufacturers draw a direct line to further education and employment for participants desiring to work in in-demand industries.
“The cohorts are for anybody and everybody,” said German. “They are not restricted to people who have had incarceration in their background. However, we are prioritizing people who have experienced incarceration, women, people of color—because the Clean Energy Jobs Act is really about getting those folks who might not normally get introduced to those careers into those careers. But we are serving anybody who wants to go through the process of becoming credentialed and moving on to one of the manufacturers.”
