Helping former offenders become current employees
When asked about the obstacles Memphis must overcome to ensure a better future, most respondents cite crime, education, and poverty. The inter-relationship of these factors is clear, but can also be overwhelming.
Hope 2 Hire attempts to address all three factors for some members of our community who must not be forgotten.
We have thousands of people currently incarcerated in Memphis and Shelby County. Many more have previously been incarcerated. A vast majority of these individuals are in prison for some form of drug-related offense.
As our country starts to understand the public health epidemic of drug and alcohol addiction, we realize that in many respects, this society has outsourced treatment of addiction issues to our corrections systems.
Absent significant changes in the approach to this epidemic, we are merely compounding the cost on society.
Upon release from prison, an ex-offender immediately requires two things for a chance to make it on the outside — a place to live and a job. The obstacles for obtaining each are significant. Hope 2 Hire helps address the need for a job.
In a partnership with HopeWorks, the Shelby County Corrections Department, and the Tennessee College of Applied Technology, Hope 2 Hire delivers higher-education training at the Shelby County Corrections Center in specific career disciplines for which there is enormous demand in Memphis and Shelby County.
Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland estimates there are approximately 15,000 job vacancies in the greater Memphis area, with about 9,000 paying $12 or more per hour. There are citizens in our community with the technical and life skills necessary to fill many of those jobs. Many of them just happen to be exoffenders.
On Thursday, June 14, the Tennessee Department of Correction, the University of Memphis Public Safety Institute, and the Memphis Shelby Crime Commission will co-host a symposium to provide an opportunity for Memphis area employers to learn more about how they can tap into sources of skilled, qualified workers while at the same time expand opportunities for ex-offenders and create a pathway for their success in our community.
The Tennessee Department of Correction is placing major emphasis on education and training programs for individuals who are still incarcerated to help prepare them for work once they return home. At the symposium, Commissioner Tony Parker and other department officials will be sharing infor-
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We have learned that while employers might prefer not to hire an ex-offender, they must have talented, reliable trades workers such as masons and carpenters. Hope 2 Hire provides them.
H2H uses the time one spends in prison to teach a marketable skill for which there is massive demand and insufficient supply in this employment market. By doing so, ex-offenders have a chance upon release to earn a livable wage, restore their dignity, and support a family.
Hope 2 Hire students are in the corrections system because they have made mistakes. Who hasn’t? The consequences of the mistakes of these individuals have been severe.
Three partners have joined with our private resources to fund a program that will produce 500 educated, skilled, committed graduates over the next three years. As one of our partners has noted, our graduates must be willing to bring 51 percent of what’s necessary to prepare themselves for a sustained successful life upon release. Hope 2 Hire offers the other 49 percent.
In the Gospel, Jesus says: “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.” Every employer in this community can help produce more workers by eliminating unnecessary policies prohibiting the hiring of ex-offenders, by giving H2H graduates and other skilled ex-offenders a chance, and by designing their own training programs to take advantage of a vast pool of workers who can help meet the need for a trained 21st century workforce.
We hope you will do so. It only requires your 49 percent.
Brad Martin and Daniel Martin of the Martin Family Foundation are Founding Partners of H2H.