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Vice Media offering apprenticeships to former inmates

NEW YORK — Vice Media is starting an apprenticeship program at its Brooklyn headquarters for recently released prison inmates, saying it wants to take action on an issue that the media company has been reporting on for the past few years.

Starting early next year, Vice will hire five former inmates for production, editorial and marketing jobs, the company said Thursday. If it works well, Vice will look to expand and encourage other companies to start their own programs.

Vice, the thriving youth-oriented company with magazines, cable and digital channels and news shows that air on HBO, has focused on prison reform since its documentary “Fixing the System” was shown on HBO in 2015. The documentary featured President Barack Obama visiting a federal penitentiary in Oklahoma.

Vice CEO Shane Smith said that while the apprentice program is a small step toward tackling the high recidivism rate among former inmates, he wanted to “alleviate some of these issues by putting our money where our mouth is.”

The company is working with the New York-based Center for Employment Opportunities, which is employing more than 7,000 former inmates in temporary jobs with the hope they develop skills and a work history that would lead to more permanent employment. The center helps employ people in New York, California, Pennsylvania and Oklahoma.

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