Highlights From Third Annual Second Chance Forum

Highlights From Third Annual Second Chance Forum
Expanding Employment Opportunities for People With a Criminal Record

Arlington, VA — The case for second chance employment was front and center at the third annual Second Chance Forum: Creating Opportunities for People, Employers and Communities. “The data are unequivocal. Second chance employees are loyal and hardworking, and turnover is significantly lower,” said Peter Quigley, President and CEO of SCBC member Kelly Services.

Held on April 1 and co-hosted by the Second Chance Business Coalition (SCBC) in partnership with Business Roundtable, Eaton, JPMorganChase, Resilience Education and the UVA Darden School of Business, the event brought together more than 100 business leaders, academics, community partners and people with lived experience to examine how second chance employment can strengthen talent pipelines and unlock opportunity for individuals and communities.

CEOs from SCBC member companies AT&T, Kelly Services and Radius Recycling opened the forum with the business case for second chance employment.

• John Stankey, Chairman and CEO, AT&T
  “[Second chance hiring provides] not only the opportunity for employment and meaningful work, but the support of their peers, the opportunity to get access to healthcare, mental care, capabilities to organize financial services in their lives, what they can do to further their education through tuition, tuition assistance and credentialing.
  
  When somebody comes into an ecosystem of that support, they have an opportunity to change the trajectory of their life…. And they become your best promoters and the best advertisement for your brand when that occurs.”

• Tamara Lundgren, Chairman, President and CEO, Radius Recycling
  “[Radius Recycling] looked at [second chance employment] really as a business case proposition. The labor pool we needed to do our business — steel manufacturing and metals recycling — was shrinking, so we needed to find more avenues to recruit talent.
  
  We found a demographic—the Second Chance demographic—that had a huge component: about 30% in this demographic are looking for work and not being given access to jobs. We figured out that we could develop the framework and methodologies to identify, reach out to, recruit and retain that talent.”

• Peter Quigley, President and CEO, Kelly Services
  “In our programs with companies, we measure very specifically things like turnover rate, cycle times, attendance, reassignment and mobility — and the data are unequivocal. Second chance employees are loyal and hardworking, and turnover is significantly lower.
  
  Our own data suggest that people believe automatically disqualifying people from jobs is not a good practice. So, if you’re in business and want to attract people to your brand, our research shows that having second chance hiring programs is good business.”

Keynote speakers shared powerful personal stories underscoring the human and societal impact of second chance opportunities.

• Alice Marie Johnson, Recently Appointed Pardon Czar, Trump Administration
  “It's more than just [incarcerated individuals] gaining their freedom. You've got to help them be set up for freedom — to get their freedom legs.… We are not going to have [people] locked in, and when they get out, they're locked out of opportunities.”

• Larry Miller, Chairman of the Jordan Brand at Nike, Author and Founder of JUMP (Justice & Upward Mobility Project)
  “The majority of folks who are incarcerated, who are in prison, want to come out and do good. They want to get back to their families. They want to figure out how to change their life and build a career. First of all, they don't know how to do it. And second, they don't believe that this opportunity is really going to be there for them. That was the biggest thing that I had to overcome — believing that I really could change my life, and that the opportunity was going to be there for me to be able to do that.”

As more employers recognize second chance employment as a smart workforce strategy, the SCBC continues to support business-led efforts to expand opportunity in partnership with its co-chairs — JPMorganChase Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon and Eaton Chairman and CEO Craig Arnold — and partner organizations Business Roundtable, the Georgetown Pivot Program, SHRM and Stand Together.

• Tim Berry, Global Head of Corporate Responsibility and Chairman of the Mid-Atlantic Region, JPMorganChase
  “Second chance employment has been a priority for JPMorganChase for many years because, simply put, second Chance policies are good for business and good for our country. One in three working age adults has a criminal record, which too often leaves these individuals unemployed or underpaid, costing in the U.S. economy nearly $87 billion every year.”

• Dane Linn, Senior Vice President, Business Roundtable
  “At its core, second chance employment is about opportunity. It’s an opportunity for growing companies to address the very real supply problems they face in finding, recruiting and advancing talented individuals… [and] it’s an opportunity for millions of Americans to find employment and get on a career path that will benefit them and their families. It’s not about a job — it’s about a career path, a path of upward mobility.”

Throughout the day, speakers examined how employers are embracing and advancing second chance employment in a variety of ways. Panel discussions included:

• The Role of Business Perspectives in Advancing Second Chances
  Tamara Lundgren (Chairman, President and CEO, Radius Recycling), John Stankey (Chairman and CEO, AT&T) and Peter Quigley (President and CEO, Kelly Services) discussed how they have created and strengthened talent pipelines, including through skills-based employment practices that have benefited candidates and employees with criminal records.

• Leveraging Technology to Advance Second Chances
  Matt Joyce (Partner, Envoy), Jodi Anderson (Product and Partnerships, Rézme) and Lucretia Murphy (Vice President, Center for Justice & Economic Advancement, Jobs for the Future) highlighted innovative ways that technology can empower individuals and organizations to embrace second chances.

• Hiring Is Local: Exploring Employer Partnerships in Local Ecosystems
  Nicole Overley (Commissioner, Virginia Works), Chadwick Dotson (Director, Virginia Department of Corrections), Kenneth Hunter (Higher Education in Prison Organizer, Virginia Consensus for Higher Education in Prison) and Ken Oliver (Managing Director, Justice & Upward Mobility Project; Chief Innovation Officer, The Just Trust) showcased how community-based partnerships drive employment opportunities for people with a criminal record and support local economic growth.

• Remarks by Alice Marie Johnson
  The recently appointed pardon czar for the Trump Administration delivered remarks on the powerful personal and systemic impact of second chance opportunities.

• Breaking Barriers: The Transformative Power of Sports
  Larry Miller (Chairman, Jordan Brand, Nike; Author; Founder, JUMP) and Derek Forrest (Sports Director, DC News Now) discussed how sports can reshape public narratives and the broader benefits of investing in people.

• Second Chance Technology: Exploring the Collateral Consequences Navigator
  Tierney Fairchild (Co-Founder and Executive Director, Resilience Education) and Allison Kroboth (Product Manager of Platforms and Data, Resilience Education) introduced a tech-driven solution designed to reduce employment barriers and support jobseekers with a criminal record.

• Embracing Second Chance Employment: Research, Implementation and Outcomes
  Greg Fairchild (Dean and CEO, UVA Northern Virginia), Peter Rodriguez (Dean, Jones School of Business, Rice University) and Marc Johnson (Senior Associate Dean and Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer, UVA Darden School of Business) discussed how business schools are integrating second chance research and practice to prepare the next generation of leaders.

Learn more about the business case for second chance employment:
https://brt-second-chance-production.s3.amazonaws.com/The-Business-Case-for-Second-Chance-Employment.pdf