Exclusionary employment practices reinforce cycles of personal and economic alienation, struggle, and despair. We are working with Bay Area legal advocates to strengthen local workforce funding, policies and practices to better respond to the needs of people with arrests and convictions (Note: this work can be expanded to other jurisdictions). With the right support and investments, these individuals can overcome their past struggles to contribute to their communities.

Opportunity for Every Worker: Toward a Fair Chance Workforce in the Bay Area | May 2019

The Fair Chance Workforce System project was initiated by Rise Together, the Insight Center for Community Economic Development and Urban Strategies Council through a shared commitment to ensuring all people in the Bay Area have the opportunity to provide for themselves and their family, regardless of race, gender or status. When justice-impacted people are hired, they perform just as – if not better than – their workplace peers. Economic and employment research conf rm that employees with records have better retention rates, more loyalty, and lower turnover (ACLU/ Trone, 2017). Despite these potential gains for employers and businesses, systemic barriers to employment for the justice impacted persist. Click here to read the Excutive Summary.