Employment is important to anyone’s success. Even more so is this true for the ex-prisoner, who faces unfamiliar, daily challenges like paying bills, finding housing, and supporting a family—often with little or no guidance.
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Employment is important to anyone’s success. Even more so is this true for the ex-prisoner, who faces unfamiliar, daily challenges like paying bills, finding housing, and supporting a family—often with little or no guidance. If an ex-prisoner can find a steady job, it astronomically eases the burden of these challenges, while reducing his or her chances of returning to a life of crime.
For service providers dedicated to reentry efforts, finding employment for ex-prisoners is an ongoing challenge, according to Steven McCullough, COO of Safer Foundation, an Illinois nonprofit committed to finding jobs for ex-prisoners. “The biggest challenges from a service provider standpoint are education and finding employers to work with,” says Steven, whose organization has 340 staff members working across the state.
Making the Grade
Safer Foundation’s average client is 34 years old, has multiple convictions, and has been in prison at least four times. These clients have an average education level of sixth grade reading and math, making it difficult to qualify for the vast majority of jobs. Safer Foundation works to combat this by providing basic education to ex-prisoners—classes for reading and math, and an opportunity to obtain a GED.
“If a service provider can raise the educational attainment level for their clients, this will in turn help with future employment—with greater impact than any other factor,” says Steven. If ill-equipped to educate ex-prisoners on their own, service providers can partner with local tutoring programs or GED prep courses to offer necessary education to their clients.
Building Employer Relationships
Another big challenge is finding employers that are willing to hire ex-prisoners. Especially in an economic downturn, employers are in a position to be picky because of the high number of applicants. Ex-prisoners are competing against applicants without criminal histories, and this can seem hopeless.
“The key challenge is working with employers both before and after job placement, so they can not only get a job but keep it over time,” says Steven. Along with helping ex-prisoners find and keep jobs, this strategy also helps build trust with employers. A significant portion of the staff at Safer Foundation is fully committed to building relationships with employers, testifying to the importance of these connections in helping ex-prisoners succeed.
Currently, the top three sectors for ex-prisoner employment, according to Steven, are: third party logistics (transportation, warehousing, distribution); food production; and administrative work. Construction, though once a top sector, has fallen behind due to the poor economy and lack of new construction projects.
For successful job placement, every party must be considered. “From a client perspective, it should be a job they want to be in and can see themselves doing,” says Steven. “And from an employer perspective, the employee should be working at the highest level possible.”
Work Ethic and Recidivism
Employers and community members often question the work ethic of ex-prisoners. Are they really ready to report to a job every day, on time, and with energy to complete the tasks at hand?
“I think the work ethic of ex-prisoners is very strong,” says Steven. He recently met with the commissioner over the Department of Streets and Sanitation for the city of Chicago—one of Safer Foundation’s biggest employers. They discussed the recent February blizzard—the third largest snowstorm in Chicago history. The commissioner praised Safer Foundation because their crews came out in 100-percent attendance, whereas only about half of the city’s other workers managed to show up.
“Our clients are motivated to work,” says Steven. “They just need opportunities to make a decent wage and have an alternative to the lifestyles that got them into prison in the first place.”
The state’s overall rate of recidivism—ex-prisoners returning back to prison—is 53 percent. Safer Foundation cuts this number in half, with its clients averaging just over 24 percent.
“Our overall model puts a lot of focus and resources behind job placement and retention services,” says Steven. “It’s not about placing a person in a job and calling it a day. We stick with the ex-prisoner and the employer over the long hail—often for two or three years.”
Safer Foundation has a job start goal of 2,800 annual placements, and they are on track to complete this by the end of the current fiscal year (June 30). The organization also measures retention numbers, and is also on track to meet their goal: that at least 70 percent of clients will remain employed after 30 days on the job. Statistics show that once clients pass the 30-day mark, the odds of them staying employed grows exponentially, according to Steven.
Collaboration and Innovation
Safer Foundation recognizes that jobs are only one piece in the larger puzzle of reentry. “Safer Foundation can’t do it all,” says Steven. “We definitely rely on partners to help support our clients in a number of different aspects of their lives and with issues they face on a daily basis. We know what we’re good at, and that’s placing people in jobs and working to keep them there.”
With all the challenges facing service providers, the floundering economy is by far the most daunting. Almost every state and every community faces budget constraints and deficits. “I have not met a service provider anywhere that isn’t facing some financial stress to provide services for the people they work with,” says Steven. “The advice I would give is to continue working hard to build new relationships and collaborations that would uplift the clients they serve. Look at others in the service provider arena in your community and begin advocating. And continue to be more innovative and collaborative; that is the message of the day.”
Safer Foundation is a nonprofit organization with over 40 years of experience assisting in the reentry of ex-prisoners. Safer’s mission is to reduce recidivism by supporting, through a full spectrum of services, the efforts of people with criminal records to become employed, law-abiding members of the community.