Steve Gagner fills one of the first barrels of bourbon from Danger Close Craft Distilling in St. Albans, Vt. Zachariah Fike hide caption
Inmates from the Eastern Correctional Facility listen as professor Delia Mellis leads a class on the Cold War. More than 300 students are enrolled in the Bard Prison Initiative each semester, within a curriculum that offers over 60 courses. Cameron Robert/NPR hide caption
Ruth McCafferty, who works in Kalispell, Mont., credits the training she got through the state's Medicaid expansion with helping her get a good job. Eric Whitney / MTPR hide caption
Students leave school at the end of the day at the Global Impact STEM Academy. Maddie McGarvey for NPR hide caption
Labor Secretary Thomas Perez, pictured earlier this year, says $5 million will be distributed to job programs for people recently released from jail. Andrew Harnik/AP hide caption
Elizabeth Bennett, director of partnerships for Together We Bake, and Nikki Yates, program participant, place cookie dough they've just made onto baking sheets. Morgan McCloy/NPR hide caption
Participants, led by facilitator Eddie Pitchford (center), form the Chain of Unity at the conclusion of the meeting. "God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change," they chant. Jun Tsuboike/NPR hide caption
Graduates of a training program pose for a portrait after a completion ceremony at the Center for Urban Families. Courtesy of the Center for Urban Families hide caption
People wait to sign up for unemployment Sept. 3 at the Atlantic City Convention Center in Atlantic City, N.J., where thousands of workers at the closing Revel and Showboat casinos recently were laid off. Mel Evans/AP hide caption