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Terrell Blount was released from prison in 2009 and graduated from Rutgers University four years later. With a bachelor\u2019s degree in hand, he felt invincible, like he was \u201con top of a mountain\u201d and ready to start his career. He spent about half a year applying for jobs without any success. Meanwhile the six-month grace period to pay back his student loans was ending, and his credit card debt was mounting. Blount couldn\u2019t understand why he wasn\u2019t hearing back from employers after sending out so many r\u00e9sum\u00e9s.<\/p>\n
Blount went on to earn a master\u2019s degree in public administration and is now director of the Formerly Incarcerated College Graduates Network. He said his story is not unique.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s so many people in our network that have degrees\u2014bachelor\u2019s degrees, master\u2019s degrees, even Ph.D.s,\u201d he said. \u201cThey are brilliant minds and they still have trouble finding work, and I think that\u2019s so egregious.\u201d<\/p>\n
A new center is being launched to advocate for solutions to the many challenges people with criminal records face in the job market, according to Jobs for the Future, a nonprofit organization focused on education and the workforce. The Center for Justice and Economic Advancement, founded by JFF, will work with colleges and universities, employers, and policy makers to develop strategies and policies to ease the transition into the job market for people who have been arrested or incarcerated and help them advance in their careers.<\/p>\n
The initiative is a partnership between JFF and the Council of State Governments Justice Center, which works with state policy makers on criminal justice reform. The center received a two-year planning grant of $6\u00a0million from the Justice and Mobility Fund, run by the philanthropy Blue Meridian Partners, to boost economic mobility among formerly incarcerated people.<\/p>\n
Hundreds of thousands of formerly incarcerated people flood the job market each year. More than 650,000 people nationwide are released from prison annually, according to the U.S. Department of Justice<\/a>. A 2017 ACLU report<\/a> found that 75\u00a0percent of those released from prison remain unemployed a year later.<\/p>\n The stigma of arrest or incarceration lasts well beyond a year<\/a> for job applicants with criminal records, said Lucretia Murphy, associate vice president at JFF, who will head the new center.<\/p>\n Many college admissions and job applications ask applicants to share their criminal histories. A report<\/a> from the Institute for Higher Education Policy found that 72\u00a0percent of higher ed institutions required applicants to disclose their criminal records. A movement to eliminate<\/a> such questions, called \u201cban the box,\u201d has grown in recent years<\/a>\u2014the Common App removed the question in 2018. A bill was also reintroduced in Congress<\/a> last August that would direct the U.S. Department of Education to issue guidance to colleges and universities to eliminate criminal record questions from admissions applications.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s very, very challenging five, 10, 15 years out, for this to still be a question that you have to deal with on the job application, or it can still be a reason for denying you work,\u201d Murphy said. \u201cThat\u2019s particularly hard and can be a huge disincentive for what we also know is the hard work of getting jobs and making your way to a postsecondary education.\u201d<\/p>\n She said the center will help individual colleges and state higher education systems better serve students with criminal records. For example, the center might work with colleges to create more welcoming admissions processes, help formerly incarcerated students access state financial aid and develop and improve support programs, among other measures.<\/p>\n A college degree or credential is \u201cparticularly important for people with records, because they need to have the skills and competencies to overcome the stigma of the record,\u201d Murphy said.<\/p>\n Monique Ositelu, a higher education senior policy analyst at New America, a liberal Washington think tank, said about a third of people released from prison don\u2019t have a high school diploma or equivalent credential, which leaves them unprepared for the workforce. Many also come into the job market unfamiliar with the technology employers want them to use.<\/p>\n \u201cMost of them do not have the education, the skills to successfully enter the labor market,\u201d she said. \u201cThere\u2019s a desire to successfully re-enter, but the system is not set up to support that, which is why I think this initiative is critical, timely and so important.\u201d<\/p>\n The center will also work with employers to adopt more inclusive hiring practices that boost employment and apprenticeship opportunities for people with criminal records, such as removing application questions that ask about criminal history or adopting practices to critically consider whether a conviction is relevant to a specific job.<\/p>\n