I've been seriously considering starting a nonprofit to do something like this. Many jobs require "two years" of experience, which makes getting a first job a

I've been seriously considering starting a nonprofit to do something like this. Many jobs require "two years" of experience, which makes getting a first job a difficult catch 22. As a non-profit you could reasonably hire and employ these folks to do productive business at below-market rates and be more or less unconcerned with them leaving once they finished. Anecdotally, I know quite a few people with good skills who are stuck working retail/service jobs, chronically underemployed, because they simply can't get into a position to demonstrate excellence and get the experience to get a job in their trained field. I consider that a waste of human potential, and quite sad.