New York City - Every time Jorge Badilla turns to the gears, he sits in a smoke-based industry driver's seat.

According to the American Truck Transport Association, the industry is currently facing a shortage of about 60,000 drivers.

Every mile, the 48-year-old Badilla meets an urgent need and maps a future he never imagined.

"I have the opportunity to do something positive for my life," Badilla told CBS News. "It's so good to be free."

Freedom makes especially meaningful for Badilla, who sold drugs in a housing project in Queens, New York City, spent nearly a decade in federal prison.

"FBI agents pointed a gun in my face," Badilla said of his arrest. "...I didn't see the sunlight for the next nine years."

While in prison, Badilla obtained his GED diploma. While leaving the prison may have ended his verdict, it was the beginning of another struggle.

"When you get out of jail, you feel like all the doors are locked," Badilla said. "No one wants to give you a job."

Nationally, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, six out of one-tenth of the people who were previously imprisoned remain unemployed after four years of leaving prison. According to the number of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics, close to 70% of people eventually return to prison, a problem called recidivism.

Badilla said in prison, seeing a lot of rescheduled “a lot before” “also helped me wake up”.

After the issuance, Badilla entered the Commercial Driver’s License Workforce Development Program, a pilot program, a partnership between the New York City Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice and a tech company that trains formerly incarcerated people who are considered low-risk for freight jobs. It can help them get a commercial driver’s license and connect them with trucking companies in the U.S. states

According to a 2013 study by Rand, a nonprofit research group, the chances of returning to prison fell by 43% for incarcerated people participating in the initiative of education and vocational training.

"When you add more obstacles to someone's path, they don't see a way to really achieve an honest life, but it won't benefit them either, but it won't benefit society, either," Deanna Logan, director of the Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice, told CBS News. "They repay society and need to come back now."

Logan said the trucking industry provides a promising ramp for the labor market while meeting key demands in the U.S. supply chain.

“We looked at the profitable people who came back from incarceration,” Logan said. “We don’t have enough people who are skilled, and it’s a very skilled profession…it gives (formerly incarcerated) a very big opportunity to be part of the community they know they do harm.”

While the plan may draw attention to some New Yorkers who are skeptical about how taxpayers spend, Logan notes that it has given a second chance for people who have been incarcerated to help drive the economy of their communities.

"If I get you incarcerated by rikers, I have to pay for facilities, officers and food," she said. "Given that when I bring someone to give them a chance, they pay taxes. So now, as a society, we are getting taxes from someone who is not on the shelf."

Emerge Career Co-founder Uzoma “Zo” Orchingwa said the plan stems from the belief that people who go out of prison are often underrated and underrated.

"Our people are just looking for someone who believes in them and can also give them a legitimate opportunity," Orchingwa told CBS News. "These people have not been able to succeed and contribute to the fair shots of citizens in most cases. They just need one opportunity to support them."

According to data provided by Emerge Career, 94% of participants in the training program graduated in the fiscal year 2024. The company says the average starting salary for all of these graduates is $75,000 per year.

Since the freight program was launched, 260 formerly incarcerated people have completed it.

Orchingwa stressed that the training program provides participants with more than just salary, but a sense of purpose.

"When people get job opportunities and income, they'll stay away from prison," Orchingwa said.

Badilla describes his freedom to drive to a bird anywhere now.

"A bird is free," he said.