SECOND CHANCE KINGS
HOME AGAIN
IN AIKEN.
For men coming home to Aiken — and for the families waiting on them. A starting point, not a brochure.
The first ninety days, sequenced
- Report as required. Supervision before everything. A missed check-in undoes the rest of the list.
- Identity documents. The slowest item, so start it first. Most doors need ID, and getting ID usually needs other ID.
- A phone number that stays the same. Employers do not call twice.
- Transportation you have actually tested. Run the route before the first shift, not on the morning of it.
- Income, then better income. The first job is a bridge, not a verdict.
- Housing stability. Usually last, and a room beats a lease early.
Coming home to Aiken County
Be realistic about the federal site: clearance requirements close it and most of its contracting to anyone with a record, and that is a large share of the good jobs in the county. The workable paths are manufacturing, warehousing, landscaping, food service, hospitality and barn work, which hires on competence. The city bus helps inside Aiken itself, but the county is wide and most work sits outside the routes.
A real share of the working population crosses the Savannah River into Georgia every day. The city runs a small bus system, but county distances and the two-state commute make a car close to mandatory.
Start with SC Works and 211. For record questions, the Solicitor's office serving Aiken County, South Carolina Legal Services or SC Appleseed. County records are at Aiken County Judicial Center, 109 Park Ave SE, Aiken, SC 29801. If you are in crisis, call 988, or 911 if anyone is in immediate danger.
This page is part of a larger body of work — start with the deal calculators and learning resources.
Talking about a record
Briefly, early, and facing forward. One or two sentences: what happened, that it is behind you, what you have done since. Then move to the work. Do not perform remorse and do not over-explain.
| Program | What it gives the employer | South Carolina contact |
|---|---|---|
| Federal Bonding Program | A free $5,000 fidelity bond covering employee dishonesty, for hiring someone considered high-risk to place. No cost to the employer | FederalBonding@dew.sc.gov |
| Work Opportunity Tax Credit | A federal tax credit of up to $2,400 for hiring someone formerly incarcerated | WOTC@dew.sc.gov |
Confirm the current terms of both with DEW rather than with a web page.
They exist to take risk out of the decision, and that is all they do. Neither one gets a person hired. What does is the ordinary commercial case: somebody who has been through this and intends to stay out of it is often the most motivated applicant in the stack.
The workforce is barbelled. A highly credentialed technical population is concentrated at one site, a service workforce sits underneath it, and the middle is thin enough that mid-skill roles are genuinely hard to fill.
What is specific to Aiken County
The urban forest and the horse district organize the town physically and socially. Winter residents, long-time locals and site employees form three distinct communities that overlap mostly at the schools.
Retirement money and equestrian money support a downtown with more specialty retail, restaurants and personal services than a city this size would normally sustain. Alongside it sits a substantial professional and technical services sector selling to the federal site.
Steady in-migration of retirees and of workers tied to the metro across the river. Growth here is driven by people choosing to move in rather than by a single employer expanding. None of this is a judgment about anybody. It is terrain, and terrain is easier to cross when somebody has described it first.
More for Aiken
The rest of the Aiken material
The full market read for this area is on the Aiken, SC site. The deeper treatment of reentry support is on the topic site.
Frequently asked
Questions people actually ask
Do you work in Aiken?
Yes. Aiken and the rest of Aiken County are inside the regular footprint, along with much of South Carolina.
Is this a government program?
No. Second Chance Kings is part of Ben Lovro's Kingdom Alliance service work. It is not affiliated with the South Carolina Department of Corrections — which runs its own separately-named Second Chance Program — or with any other state agency.
Do I have to be religious to get help?
No. Ben's faith is his own and it is why he does this. Nobody has to share it, agree with it, or attend anything to be treated decently.
What is hardest about coming home to Aiken?
Be realistic about the federal site: clearance requirements close it and most of its contracting to anyone with a record, and that is a large share of the good jobs in the county. The workable paths are manufacturing, warehousing, landscaping, food service, hospitality and barn work, which hires on competence. The city bus helps inside Aiken itself, but the county is wide and most work sits outside the routes.
Make your next move
A year from now, what will you be glad you started today?
You don't need another promise that everything will be easy. You need something useful to learn — and a next step you're willing to take.