Employing Ex-Cons

The recession is taking its toll on job seekers. The unemployment rate is nearly 10 percent. For most jobless Americans, looking for work is difficult. For the population of ex-convicts, finding employment can be almost impossible. Unemployment among former prisoners can be as high as 75 percent in the first year out — and that's when the economy is running smoothly.

But now the Associated Press reports advocates are making a case for giving ex-cons a chance. Groups like Chicago's Social IMPACT Research Center argue that helping parolees find employment lowers the risk that they will commit crimes again or that they will need the aid of welfare. Congress appears to agree. In its budget blueprint, is the inclusion of a $50 million project that aims to show that employing the chronically jobless, like ex-cons, is worthwhile.

Existing programs prove that when given the chance, these former prisoners can do the job. The News Hour with Jim Lehrer profiled ex-cons at the Greater Chicago Food Depository who completed a 12-week internship program that teaches cooking skills. The program, called Chicago's Community Kitchens, says 80 percent successfully complete the classes, with 60 percent finding jobs directly afterward.

Tifanni Sterdivant, managing director of Corner Office Management, a company that hires ex-cons told the AP, "A lot of [the ex-cons] are vocal about not wanting to go back to certain neighborhoods. They want a new life." And after all, don't most of us deserve a second chance?

(via SF Chronicle)