Second chances for prisoners, horses and the unemployed; Dogs help children learn to read

Steve Ember: And I’m Steve Ember. This week on our show, we tell you about a program that gives prisoners and retired racehorses a second chance at life. Then, we learn about an organization called Second Chance. It gives men with troubled pasts a way to learn new job skills by taking buildings apart to reuse the materials. And, later, we visit a school where dogs are helping children learn to read.

 Carolyn Presutti: Many prisons have programs to help prisoners develop job skills. But a program at the James River Work Center, a prison in the state of Virginia, is a little unusual. It teaches inmates to care for retired racehorses. The horses are retrained for new lives, while the inmates learn job skills for their life after release.

Steve Ember: The Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation is a nonprofit group that works with the prison. The group tries to save former racehorses from the possibility of...

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