Key Takeaways
This year’s Second Chance Month produced valuable new resources for the Fair Chance field that encourage companies and employers to adopt more inclusive hiring practices and develop thoughtful partnerships with community groups that can help tap new talent pools and connect employees to retention supports.
New toolkits and resources created by the Manufacturing Institute (MI), Responsible Business Initiative for Justice (RBIJ), and Boston Consulting Group (BCG), offer practical tools, roadmaps, and insights to support the adoption of Fair Chance hiring initiatives and promote inclusive employment opportunities.
As a part of Second Chance Month industry leaders and fair chance organizations developed resources with the goal of helping employers to better understand, implement, and maintain Fair Chance practices. We want to highlight some of these resources released by groups like the Manufacturing Institute (MI), Boston Consulting Group (BCG), and Responsible Business Initiative for Justice (RBIJ).
Building upon its vast library of Fair Chance content, the MI released its “Second Chance Hiring Toolkit for Local Communities” last month. The toolkit builds on outcomes of the MI’s Federation for Advanced Manufacturing Education (FAME) program that sought to help bridge gaps in manufacturing by developing workforce development and education programs for potential candidates in cohort models. The toolkit guides local community & industry leaders on how to create multi-employer Fair Chance initiatives that support foundational learning and implementation support. The MI’s toolkit is designed to drive partnership-building and hiring collaborations between workforce leaders and employers and can be a resource for industry associations, Chambers, workforce boards, and individual companies who want to lead in their communities. The full tool kit can be accessed here.
RBIJ developed a report that doubles as a roadmap that seeks to help employers recognize and overcome hurdles in fair chance hiring. The Report titled “Hiring Justice Involved Talent: Practical Steps to Becoming Second Chance Employers” focuses on research and conversations conducted across a wide spectrum of industries and simplifies them into three pillars for employers to explore. To gain access to and learn more about the roadmap check out the blog post by Ashley Furst here.
BCG in collaboration with the Corporate Coalition of Chicago put together a piece focused on making the case for fair chance hiring as well as providing practical methods for employers to adopt fair chance strategies. The piece covers misconceptions associated with cost, risk, capacity, and organizational policies that may dissuade employers from fair chance practices. The article then provides five critical steps for companies to implement targeted and successful pilot programs. To view the full article check it out at BCG’s site here.
Together, these new tools and resources equip employers with the knowledge, insights, and practical methods needed to implement Fair Chance strategies and open up employment opportunities for individuals with past convictions. Toolkits like these play a vital role in advancing Fair Chance hiring practices and promoting inclusivity and diversity in the workforce.
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