The Last Word: Cornbread Hustle CEO on Giving ‘Second Chances’ via Jobs to People in Transition

Cheri Garcia, founder and CEO of Cornbread Hustle, pitching her company at United Way of Metropolitan Dallas’ The Pitch in 2021. [File photo]

Cheri Garcia
Founder and CEO
Cornbread Hustle
.…on how her staffing agency offers “second chances” to people with criminal records and those in recovery, via KTVT CBS11.

Garcia’s Cornbread Hustle is a staffing agency that helps people with criminal records and those in recovery find meaningful employment, by working with “forward-thinking companies” that value second-chance hiring.

“People coming out of prison or people in recovery or people in transition find meaningful employment” using her agency, Garcia told KTVT CBS11’s Erin Jones—including through a new Junk Hustlers service that Garcia launched herself this year.

Cornbread Hustle launched Junk Hustlers as one way to provide jobs, paying $17 an hour—more than double the $7.25 minimum wage in Texas—for workers to help people get rid of their junk by offering junk removal and hauling.

“This year we have had a difficult time finding employers who are hiring,” Garcia told KTVT. “Staffing is just low and so I decided to invest [$100,000 of] my own money into Junk Hustlers. It uses our placement agency to place people. It’s powered by the placement agency, so we’re able to take matters into our own hands and hire people quickly.”

Earlier this year, Cornbread Hustle produced an in-depth report on America’s growing labor shortage and how second-chance hiring can address this issue. It was based on over 40 research sources, as well as the company’s proprietary data on 2,500-plus employees and thousands of job applicants.

In 2021, Cornbread Hustle snagged the spotlight at United Way of Metropolitan Dallas’ fifth-annual The Pitch, winning all five score-based prizes, including Social Innovator of the Year, and receiving $145,000 in funding.

You can watch the KTVT report here.

For more of who said what about all things North Texas, check out Every Last Word.

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