Employment Work Group Meeting April 8, 2015

Transcription

1 Work Group Meeting April 8, 2015 Session Notes I. PARTICIPANTS Carol Hall, Gregg Keesling, Shonna Majors, Shawniece Patton, Kevin Potter, Chris Reeder, John Reichard, Marshall Shackleford, Nicole Watkins, Cecilia Whitfield CSI Staff: Katie English, April Schmid II. RELATED DOCUMENTS - Strategy Grid III. NEW INDIVIDIUAL ACTION COMMITMENTS Name Action(s) With Whom By When Carol Hall Gregg Keesling Chris Reeder John Reichard Contribution to Result Find out progress in training IMPL Library 5/14 program Services Ask Mayor for $10M Mayor 4/9 Get ball rolling Check with Vop on /Reentry Invite Steve Quick to attend the next MCRC meeting Invite a representative from Keys to Work to attend next MCRC meeting Co-design call for sex offender issues Marshall Chris Next meeting Contact Vop for Friday Steve Quick 4/15 Steve Quick is president of AFSCMF which is a major organization Keys to 4/15 Keys to Work is an alternative Work staffing organization that specializes ex-offenders getting employed Step Up 4/15 Ask how we can work together to develop a plan IV. UPDATED INDIVIDUAL ACTION COMMITMENTS Name Action(s) With Whom By When Contribution to Result Carol Hall Don Hawkins Progress Find temp service Elwood Staffing 3/15 Add to list of temp policies employers Find resume/job search trainer Indianapolis Public Library 3/15 Add to list of trainers Contact WorkOne By next meeting More Did not attend Work release center By next meeting jobs person Update Temp to April Services on website

2 Brian (Chris) Reeder John Reichard Marshall Shackelford Rhonda Shipley Kevin Tichenor Investigate inordinate interruptions to work day due to requirements Work with Chamber on General Presentation re: Retention Combined 2 & 4; identify barriers to MCCC, MCP, Chris, John, Marshall Angela Smith Jones, Marshall, Chris Mr. Reeder Next meeting, April 9:30-11 To stop or greatly reduce work interruptions during work hours. Ban the Box & Presentation to the Chamber regarding Devise a survey, conduct survey? ASO April 8 Invite Keys to Work and DPW Meet with Chris Chris Reeder, As soon as Reeder, John, John, Marshall possible Rhiannon, Marshall Chris, Marshall meet with Chamber to develop strategy Work on sustainable transition jobs program Contact/Identify Temp Agencies Chris ASAP Gregg Keesling Next meeting Some offenders are not job ready and transitional jobs could help that Work Group Before Work Group next meeting Identifying employers who develop skilled laborers for advancement Did not attend Did not attend V. CHECK IN Members were asked to check in with the group and to note any progress on their individual action commitments from last time (noted in the table above.) The following members were not present or did not make an action commitment at the last meeting, but provided the following updates: Name Update Gregg Keesling President at Recycle Force Shonna Majors Director of Services at PACE Shared that there is an employer coming in on Thursday for a job fair looking for many people to work and requires no background checks, just reliable transportation Shawniece Community Impact Manager at United Way this was her first Patton Work Group Kevin Potter Vice President of a private employer

3 Nicole Watkins Cecilia Whitfield Family Resource Coordinator at Forest Manor Multi-Service Center they are developing an official program model for re-entry clients. She also shared there is a job fair coming up at April 23 rd at the Avondale Meadows YMCA. Founder of Use What You ve Got Prison Ministry has a certification as Offender Workforce Development Specialist so she can refer people to VI. DISCUSSION The Criminal Justice Complex April informed the group about meetings that are open to the public about the criminal justice complex. This evolved into a lengthy discussion about the importance of calling for increased crime prevention funding. Gregg strongly encouraged the group to have a voice on this project because it creates potential for many opportunities for exoffenders. He also suggested that the group makes a statement on obtaining funding since crime prevention has decreased over the past few years. There were concerns about the matter, in including: Most of the profits for the construction of this project leave Marion County and go to Chicago and Paris, France Most of the jobs involved in this project are highly skilled jobs There is uncertainty as to where the savings of the project go There is uncertainty about whether or not this project will be finalized or how the members of City-County Council will vote on this After some discussion, April suggested that the group come up with strategies to address the issue. She asked if this would be something to engage the Policy Work Group on. Chris suggested that the Work Group works jointly with the Policy Work Group. Chris also recommended talking to Vop and other City-County Council members about increasing crime prevention funding and allocating a certain number/percentage of jobs created from this project to re-entrants. April also recommended speaking to Jeff Miller about the opportunity for re-entry jobs with the neighborhood revitalization projects related to the CJ complex. Kevin explained the main components involved in the criminal justice complex project: development, construction, and maintenance. He suggested for the construction piece, the group could ask for a percentage of the jobs being reserved for re-entrants. However, he said the maintenance is the bigger piece of the project that will create ongoing, lasting jobs, such as janitorial services, food preparation, and landscaping. He expressed that securing some of those jobs would make sense as well. Many of the members proposed acting quickly on this issue. Gregg made the following initial proposal:

4 Proposal: The Work Group makes a resolution that 1) there will be a significant number of jobs (5%) that will go to ex-offenders, and 2) $10 million of the savings will be reinvested in re-entry programming. APPROVED The following comments were made regarding the proposal: In addition to, there are other key areas of crime prevention, such as mental health and housing, so the group should be asking for funding for more comprehensive services especially considering that the MCRC Approach is about comprehensive services Most of the jobs that will be created from the criminal justice complex project are highly skilled jobs $10 million is an unreasonable amount of money to request and they will not be receptive to this As opposed to $10 million of the savings, a percentage of the savings might be more appropriate The group s approach and presentation of the matter should be holistic because all areas of re-entry feed into each other, so the group needs to encapsulate the whole picture, not just one area It is difficult to make a solidified agreement on an amount of money does need its own funding source and should be a primary focus because the fundamental thing a person needs when re-entering society is a job There are many moving parts of this issue and therefore this needs to be pursued immediately History has been that other areas of crime prevention receive funding while gets cut Vop is taking an active role in figuring out if crime prevention dollars are being distributed and grantees are being assessed in a standardized way With new federal legislation, the re-entry population is going to increase, so the community needs to prepare for this Increased crime prevention funding would result in increased staffing, job fairs, and training in places like Center for Working Families locations Overall, the group needs to take this as an opportunity to make an impact on public safety and crime prevention The members of the group agreed the first step is to ask the council that there will be a crime prevention fund set up as a result of this agreement. The group agreed to the following modified proposal: Proposal: The Work Group will request that 5% of the construction jobs created from the project will go to re-entrants, 15% of the maintenance jobs created

5 from the project will go to re-entrants, and a $10 million crime prevention fund will be established (from cost savings and or investment from the primary contractors.) The group agreed to engage the Policy Work Group on this matter. Marshall and Chris are going to meet with Vop since he is the Policy Work Group lead, and because the City-County Council is the body that will ultimately decide where the funding will go. They will also get his input on the criminal justice complex project and potential funding for crime prevention. Gregg shared that the Chamber released a statement that strongly urges city administration to convene a stakeholder group to determine how best to invest $3.2 million annual savings from the complex and reduce recidivism. Gregg is going to send this statement to April. April stated if it is decided that the group needs a position statement on the proposal, it might need to go to the full MCRC for feedback, which could potentially be done electronically. Upcoming Events: Family Resource Coordinator at Forest Manor Multi-Service Center they are developing an official program model for re-entry clients. She also shared there is a job fair coming up at April 23 rd at the Avondale Meadows YMCA May 12 th having a panel open to the public that consists of employers and exoffenders to reduce barriers (Gregg and Marshall will be on panel) April shared there are meetings, public forum where you can testify to council members on planning committee for it, about criminal justice complex Next Work Group Meetings: Policy Work Group Meeting: April 14 th at 9 am at United Way in Conference Room E. Chris and Marshall will ask Vop if the Policy Work Group is willing to reserve part of their meeting time to discuss this issue. Next Work Group Meeting: June 10 th, 9:30am at United Way