Outlet: Wharton Catalyst Newsletter | Photo credit: Adobe Stock

Since its launch in April 2023, the Wharton Opportunities for Reentry, Knowledge, and Skills (WORKS) program has steadily increased its impact. Led by Wharton Professor Damon Phillips, the WORKS program — in which MBA students teach business classes to incarcerated learners, mentor formerly incarcerated entrepreneurs, and help formerly incarcerated people reintegrate into society and the workforce — reached 60 justice-involved individuals this spring, up from 30 last year. Additionally, MBA student interest in Professor Phillips’s prerequisite course, Reforming Mass Incarceration and the Role of Business, has grown more than 50%. This spring, the course hit capacity at an impressive 76 students enrolled; last spring, it had 48.

Wharton WORKS is a part of Opportunity Lab, housed within the Wharton Impact, Value, and Sustainable Business Initiative. To learn more about what’s driving interest in the program — and what MBA students have gained from the experience — we spoke with four people who participated in it in spring 2026. Here’s what they had to say about their experiences as teachers and mentors to people in prison, as well as those reintegrating and starting their own businesses after release.