Second Chances Event Highlights Local Re-entry Work

Individuals with criminal records face significant barriers to meaningful employment post-incarceration, including stigma, legal restrictions, and lack of skills or education. Overcoming them is essential for successful reintegration into society and reducing recidivism — the tendency of a convicted criminal to reoffend — but it’s an uphill battle.

In most cases, these individuals just need someone to give them a second chance.

On July 25, Charlotte leaders and community members gathered at Charlotte’s Goodwill Opportunity Campus for the Second Chances for a Stronger Workforce event, which featured a film screening, panel discussion and resource fair, aiming to educate people about economic mobility and fair employment for the formerly incarcerated while providing resources to those affected.

The nonprofit storytelling and educational agency Roadtrip Nation screened its documentary Being Free, which follows three formerly incarcerated Americans across the country as they share their experiences and talk to others with similar stories. 

A study from the Society for Human Resource Management credited the documentary for leading to significant changes in how leaders in human resources and job recruiting perceive formerly incarcerated individuals. 

According to the study, three months after watching the 55-minute documentary film, HR professionals were 16% more likely to “strongly agree” that formerly incarcerated people bring unique strengths to the workplace, and 17% more likely to agree that there are benefits to hiring workers who have been impacted by the justice system.

“This event offers an opportunity for employers, community members, business leaders, government, and a variety of stakeholders to come together and see the human faces that are impacted by incarceration and be able to develop strategies and ways that they can support knowing that there are humans that are living through all of this,” said Allison Dupont, a spokesperson for Roadtrip Nation. 

North Carolina has been at the forefront of the second-chance hiring movement in recent years. In January, an executive order from Gov. Roy Cooper called for greater investments in workforce training and support to help returning citizens restart their careers. 

Previous legislation and policy changes that led up to Cooper’s executive order include the Dignity for Women Who Are Incarcerated Act (2021), Raise the Age (2019), Right to Work/Occupational Licensing Board Reform (2019), the North Carolina Reentry Action Plan (2018), and the creation of the State Reentry Council Collaborative (2018). 

The Second Chances for a Stronger Workforce event in west Charlotte on July 25 kicked off with a resource fair that included more than 30 employers and organizations such as Mecklenburg County Re-Entry Services & Unified Workforce Development, Chase Bank, Central Piedmont Community College and Charlotte Community Health Clinic. 

Shaheedah Jackson, program administrator for Restorative Pathways with City Startup Labs, said she attended the event to help contribute to increased economic mobility for justice-impacted individuals. 

“We’re trying to make it fair and let the public know that justice system-impacted individuals have just as much value as people who have not been impacted,” Jackson told Queen City Nerve. 

Cynthia Bailey, associate director of workforce development at Atrium Health, cited research that shows how a job offer can greatly decrease the chances that a formerly incarcerated person reoffends. 

“So it’s a benefit not only to the individual but to the employer, to the community, to everyone to remove these barriers that continue to exist,” she added. 

Charlotte City Council member LaWana Mayfield and Kendall Taylor, CEO of male mentoring organization Salute 1st, participated in a panel discussion that preceded the documentary screening. 

“A criminal record speaks to the depth of potential that was left unchallenged in a promising soul,” Taylor said before the event. “Criminogenic behaviors can be re-engineered towards sustainable sectors that push our economy forward in concert with the immense savings experienced from reducing recidivism.”

During the panel, Taylor described how, after becoming a father at 15 years old then being charged with three felonies, he turned his life around and is now an impactful member of the Charlotte community thanks to a shift in his mindset. 

Following the screening of Being Free, attendees heard from a second group of panelists including Patrice Funderburg, executive director of the Center for Community Transitions; and Ken Oliver, chief innovation officer of The Just Trust, which produced the documentary. 

Mike Marriner, co-founder and president of Roadtrip Nation, said the process of creating and touring the documentary is just one way to push back on the narratives that allow for the status quo to stay in place. 

“Both research and anecdotal experience confirm how crucial storytelling is when it comes to changing entrenched systems,” said Marriner. “This initiative is about helping business and community leaders across North Carolina share the experiences of those who have succeeded in their return from incarceration, and making the case for fair chance hiring as an essential part of the state’s economic growth strategy in the years to come.”