Rebuilding Lives. Strengthening Communities.

Issue
Develop more community-based employment centers that use a
comprehensive approach and provide long-term support.
Recommendation
In some Chicago neighborhoods, community-based
education and employment agencies have helped formerly
incarcerated individuals find work for many years.
They have developed sophisticated, comprehensive
strategies for serving this population, and they have
tapped into private and public funding streams to support
the necessary array of services. In these communities, a
person leaving prison will usually hear by word of mouth
that a certain neighborhood organization is “the place to
go” for formerly incarcerated individuals seeking a job.
MAYORAL POLICY CAUCUS ON PRISONER REENTRY
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However, there are not enough such agencies in Chicago.
Those that do exist do not always have the capacity to
meet the need in their communities, and many communitybased
agencies, although employment-focused, do not
have experience serving formerly incarcerated individuals.
Chicago is home to five One-Stop Career Centers, also
known as Chicago Workforce Centers, which provide
employment and employment-related services to lowincome
individuals. But because of the specific federal
funding source for these centers (usually Workforce
Investment Act funds), there are placement and retention
benchmarks, program constraints and eligibility
requirements which do not always make the Chicago
Workforce Centers effective for former prisoners.
Formerly incarcerated individuals, by virtue of their substance
abuse histories, emotional, mental and physical
health challenges, academic deficiencies, or limited
employment experience, often need access to a variety of
services over a long period of time. Further, family issues
frequently are intertwined with prisoners’ issues as they
reenter society and must be addressed concurrently. The
Chicago Workforce Centers, by and large, have not provided
an environment conducive for former prisoners to
discuss these issues and do not have resources to
sufficiently handle them. 79
Similarly, many traditional community-based education
and employment agencies are not adequately equipped to
assist individuals with criminal records in finding gainful,
long-term employment. These agencies’ services also may
contain funding limitations, programmatic constraints or
eligibility requirements that prevent them from serving
formerly incarcerated individuals. For example, some
agencies provide technical training as part of job preparation
that requires participants to read and compute at a
ninth-grade level. Many former prisoners cannot meet
this requirement, and consequently may not benefit from
these agencies’ services and programs.
These agencies must do more than assist released
prisoners in obtaining skills and connecting with employers.
Formerly incarcerated individuals present complicated,
multi-layered barriers to employment. Agencies serving
these individuals need to address changes in attitudes,
behaviors and lifestyle from prison culture and criminal
activity and encourage positive engagement in the community.
These agencies must do more than teach
marketable skills; they must help reestablish connections.
Moreover, low-wage, unskilled workers will often cycle
through several different jobs. 80 The first job placement
often is the beginning of a long progression, which may be
disrupted as former prisoners struggle to meet demands of
the workplace along with emotional and practical adjustments
of life outside prison. 81 Organizations that address
only employment will not successfully meet the needs of
these individuals. A more comprehensive, long-term
approach integrating supportive services is necessary.