The future of work is being built right now. We’re making sure everyone has a hand in it.
Ours to Build trains justice-impacted community members to teach AI and technology skills to their peers, starting with those coming home from incarceration.
What the data says
What we found
0%
had already found AI tools on their own
Access was not the barrier — but confidence and belonging were. Most justice-impacted individuals we surveyed across the Midwest had used AI before we ever showed up.
Online survey (n=26, Tally)
0%
didn't feel these tools were made for them
Nearly 3 in 5 disagreed that AI applications were designed with people like them in mind. That perception gap is exactly what peer-led instruction closes.
Online survey (n=26, Tally)
0%
average confidence applying what they learned
Across four workshops in Ohio and Illinois — reaching roughly 116 participants between January and April 2026 — participants left more confident putting AI tools to work in their own lives.
AI Futures workshop surveys, Jan–Apr 2026
The Program
See How It Works
AI Futures uses a train-the-trainer model: justice-impacted individuals learn to teach ChatGPT and AI tools to their peers inside correctional facilities. The most credible voice in any room is the one that knows what it feels like to be in that room.