SECOND SHIFT · FROM THE FIELD
San Antonio, Texas · Manufacturing and logistics · Reentry and certification
Original reporting: Diego Medel, San Antonio Report · September 27, 2026
John Anthony Uriegas-Montez arrived on April 7 at Crosspoint, a nonprofit residential reentry center on San Antonio’s Eastside that houses people finishing federal sentences under a Bureau of Prisons contract, the San Antonio Report’s Diego Medel reports. The 35-year-old San Antonio native had been sentenced in 2024 to 72 months in federal prison on a firearm charge.
Soon after arriving, he enrolled in Goodwill’s Certified Logistics Associate program, which trains people for warehouse and distribution work, and scored 90 on the certification exam, according to the Report. He spent hours in the center’s computer room, sending as many as 30 job applications in a day.
By June 3, less than two months after he arrived, he had landed a full-time job as a lift truck operator at Tindall Corp.’s San Antonio operation, the Report says. By September he had passed his 90-day mark, qualified for health, dental and vision insurance, finished his stay at Crosspoint and moved into an apartment of his own. He told the Report he is eyeing a welding certification next.
“This is my first step into trying to make it,” Uriegas-Montez said.
Location Decision takeaway
This is a short, specific pipeline: a recognized warehouse credential, a supervised residence and a job search treated as full-time work. It took Uriegas-Montez from arrival to a benefits-eligible manufacturing job in about five months. For regions trying to fill production and logistics roles, how fast reentry programs connect people to jobs with benefits, and which employers will hire them, is a labor-supply measure worth tracking. That is our analysis; the timeline and outcome are as reported by the San Antonio Report.
Second Shift tells the stories of people building what’s next through new skills, new careers and second chances. From the Field items are curated from credited reporting, with Location Decision’s perspective. Location Decision Originals are independently reported by our team.
Curated by Location Decision. Originally reported by Diego Medel, San Antonio Report, September 27, 2026.
This item was sourced and drafted with AI assistance and reviewed under Location Decision’s editorial standards. Second Shift tracks workforce outcomes to inform our broader editorial analysis. All reporting belongs to the credited journalists; read the original story for the full account.