ERI, the nation’s largest fully integrated IT and electronics asset disposition provider and cybersecurity-focused hardware destruction company, is helping to recycle lives as well as electronics – thanks to a unique partnership with a non-profit training organization called Keys2Work, a nonprofit that helps homeless, at-risk and justice-involved citizens successfully transition into the workforce through employment assistance, workforce certifications, workplace mentoring, and job placement services.

Keys2Work helps employees access career opportunities once they have completed a job training program and been successfully employed in the community in an effort to move them forward to a career. At present, 18 employees at ERI’s Plainfield, Indiana location are success stories from the Keys2Work program, and ERI’s goal is to take on 30-40 more.

“Our mission has always been to leave the planet better than we found it,” said John Shegerian, ERI’s Chairman/CEO. “With this program we are not only recycling electronics and keeping toxic e-waste out of landfills, we are also recycling lives and enabling second chances for at-risk people who want to re-enter the work force and make better lives for themselves. We’re very proud of our relationship with this program and of the fantastic ERI team members who have become part of our work family through Keys2Work. When you can make a living and make the world a better place at the same time, that is when the magical journey begins.”

No stranger to "recycling lives" and serving up second chances himself, in 1993 Shegerian co-founded Homeboy Tortillas and Homeboy Industries, which continues to serve as a paradigm for urban renewal in America.

With the vision of helping the underserved and hard-to-employ in finding meaningful employment, Jannett Keesling started Keys2Work in 1996. Today, more than 10,000 have secured employment thanks to Keys2Work’s efforts. For many of these individuals no other organizations could provide them the help needed to overcome obstacles to employment. Much of Keys2Work’s success rested on ensuring that those who wanted to work were supported in both finding and keeping their jobs with organizations such as ERI.

With record numbers of homeless, at-risk and justice-involved citizens seeking jobs, Keys2Work is leveraging its years of experience in staffing services to exclusively help citizens wanting to re-enter the workforce.

ERI is the largest fully integrated IT and electronics asset disposition provider and cybersecurity-focused hardware destruction company in the United States. ERI is certified at the highest level by all leading environmental and data security oversight organizations to de-manufacture, recycle, and refurbish every type of electronic device in an environmentally responsible manner. ERI has the capacity to process more than a billion pounds of electronic waste annually at its eight certified locations, serving every zip code in the United States. ERI’s mission is to protect people, the planet and privacy. For more information about e-waste recycling and ERI, call 1-800-ERI-DIRECT or visit https://eridirect.com.

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