Five Keys Schools and Programs

Five Keys was founded in 2003 by the San Francisco Sheriff’s Department as the first accredited charter high school in the nation to provide diploma programs for adults in county jails. Today, we are proud to offer high school education, vocational skills, life skills classes and access to college and workforce programs.

Today, we have more than over 900 dedicated employees serving 25,000 individuals each year in 14 counties, including San Francisco, Alameda, Marin, Riverside, San Diego, Solano, Sonoma, San Mateo, Santa Barbara, Santa Clara, San Joaquin, San Bernardino, Stanislaus, and Los Angeles counties.

We have experienced 20-30% growth for the past 3 years. Some of this growth is due to serving students in more county jails and community learning centers. However, the majority of the growth is due to diversification of services we offer. We now operate career centers inside county jails and create linkages to community-based workforce networks. We manage a transitional housing shelter in San Francisco. We also hire people directly into our transitional employment positions for formerly incarcerated individuals and people currently or formerly experiencing homelessness.