Key takeaways
With a combined workforce of 3.6 million public servants, counties can take a national leadership role to drive fair chance employment and encourage the private sector to follow suit.
Counties have levers including direct hiring, connections to reentry and workforce programming, and policymaking that can create substantial opportunity for jobseekers with past convictions.
Several local governments, such as Los Angeles County, are leading the way in Fair Chance employment.
This summer, Envoy's Matt Joyce collaborated with the National Association of Counties to publish a feature article on the benefits of Fair Chance employment in NACo's County News. Included in the article are five strategies Counties can deploy to encourage Fair Chance employment:
1. Counties can review their hiring policies to ensure they are not unintentionally disqualifying or discouraging great candidates due to conviction histories that are not relevant to the job.
2. Counties can build recruiting partnerships with local reentry and workforce initiatives — or their own correctional agencies — to support candidates with past convictions to navigate the county workforce and apply for available opportunities.
3. County HR teams can partner with programs that help address retention and job stability challenges for people returning to the workforce, such as transportation, housing, healthcare, recovery and childcare.
4. Counties can leverage their vendor and supplier relationships to ensure that companies doing business with the county align with their fair-chance strategies.
5. Counties can consider policy and regulatory changes that minimize risk for fair chance employers and creative incentives to hire candidates returning from the justice system.
To read the full article, click here.
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