Removing Re-Entry Barriers, One City at a Time

Picture this: You get out of prison with hopes of finding a good job that will sustain you and your family. Now you’re filling out a job application and, before you can state any of your qualifications, you see the question “Have you ever been convicted of a felony?” Regardless of your past work experience or education, that box will always shake your confidence. And if you check the box, that will be the first thing a potential employer learns about you.

For some of us, this isn’t hard to picture.

That’s why the Partnership for Safety and Justice (PSJ) has been working to remove the question about conviction history from initial job applications in Oregon with our “Think Outside the Box” campaign. PSJ was successful in Multnomah County in 2007, and just this month we had another major victory in the city of Eugene.

Thanks to a range of supportive organizational allies and the activism of over a hundred PSJ members and friends, Eugene’s city manager agreed to remove the box. Instead, that question will be asked on a supplemental questionnaire or at the appropriate time during an interview.

This doesn’t change the law; Oregon law requires thorough background checks on applicants for certain jobs. And we’re not suggesting the question isn’t relevant. We’re only suggesting it can be better answered in an interview where the applicant can demonstrate in more personal detail what she has done to turn her life around. Asking the question about conviction history on the initial application can deter people from applying at all and also sets up a process to indiscriminately screen out qualified people.

Eugene can now hire the most qualified applicants for city jobs and join a movement across the country that includes cities like Minneapolis, Boston, San Francisco and Seattle. All those cities have chosen to remove this barrier to re-entry to help formerly incarcerated people succeed.

We didn’t do it alone: many other organizations, faith-based leaders, and community members along with our Eugene membership worked hard to give people transitioning out of prison a fair chance at employment. And Sponsors Inc., the oldest re-entry support organization in Oregon, deserves special acknowledgment for their leadership.

And Eugene itself is going one step further: the city will gather data during this pilot project so it can be used as a model for evidence-based practices.

Partnership for Safety and Justice has no doubt that Eugene will see great results. Removing barriers to re-entry creates healthier families, a more productive workforce, and a safer community.

Click here to go to our website for more information. To read more about “Think Outside the Box” and barriers to re-entry for people in Oregon, visit our Beyond Barriers page.