Monica Yant Kinney: A look at some Philadelphia post-prison success stories

Half the participants drop out or disappear, director Robyn Buseman concedes, but her recidivism rate hovers at 10 percent - a fraction of the two-thirds city average. So already, the intense one-on-one experience is beating the odds.

Take a chance on me?

"This is my first legitimate job, and I'm about to turn 26," Perez says at the "How Philly Moves" studio in the Gallery. He did time for drug dealing and robbery but now earns $10 an hour as a "grateful" assistant on the project to span 50,000 square feet of concrete at Philadelphia International Airport.

Perez previously applied for jobs at Home Depot and Pathmark, but never got past interviews where "I'd extend my hand to shake theirs" and see employers recoil at the 17 tattoos decorating his arms.

"If I had my own business," he admits, "I'd check me out, too."

As we talk, Tjai Abdullah (the first name stands for "To Justly Advocate Individuality") arrives after leading a mural tour for fifth graders.

She's a Restorative Justice success story, an in-demand tour guide and emerging artist incarcerated for violating probation on a misdemeanor theft charge by refusing to take a breath test on a traffic stop.

"I had a million jobs in jail," the 34-year-old tells me, "but coming home, only Mural Arts said, 'We see something in you and don't want you to go back.' "

A year ago, Abdullah was homeless. Now, she pays her own rent.

"More employers have to take a risk and deal with their preconceived notions of what a criminal is," she wishes. "Look at me."