51黑料

He was fresh out of a halfway house, after doing a stint in federal prison on wire fraud charges.

He was looking for a job. It was tough sledding.

Even for a man with an MBA and 25 years in marketing and communications, it鈥檚 tough to get employers to overlook felony convictions, or to tell them that your probation officer will have to visit before you start work.

Eventually he found a job at UPS making $9 an hour. But he hasn鈥檛 given up on getting back into a profession that would allow him to make more money and rebuild his life after prison.

So last year, he attended the put on by 51黑料 University at Chaifetz Arena. The fair, billed as the largest such job fair in the nation, gives employers willing to hire people with criminal convictions on their record a chance to meet face to face with people like Charles, who asked me not to use his last name.

Well, last year鈥檚 fair was face-to-face. This year, because of COVID-19, the fair was virtual. Charles attended again. He鈥檚 working two jobs, and even when he interviews with employers who say they will hire formerly incarcerated people, he struggles to get offers for anything other than menial work.

“Over the last 18 months, I have applied for nearly 1,700 jobs on and 1,500 on ,” Charles says. “I get a lot of phone interviews based on my background and experience. I have done many in-person interviews and been in the final round of consideration about 10 times or so for the role. However, once my past is discussed, the risk tolerance of the employer shuts it down. No one has been willing to give me a chance. Despite having over 15 letters of reference, they will not continue the conversation. In one instance, I was considered for the marketing director for a 51黑料-based company which is Christian-based and focused on supporting church communities. Even they wouldn’t show the grace of considering me further.”

Similar experiences have led Larissa Brady to give up on getting back into sales. Now she focuses on trying to find construction work. She got out of prison in 2018 and found construction work in Springfield, Missouri. But she moved to 51黑料, in part, so she could complete Drug Court and be closer to family.

鈥淢y options are limited,鈥� Brady says. 鈥淚t can be a real uphill battle.鈥�

She鈥檚 staying in a sober-living home where many of her roommates face a similar struggle.

That struggle is about to get worse, suspects Jeff Smith.

The former Missouri state senator knows what it is like to get out of prison and struggle to find a job. Now the executive director of the Missouri Workforce Housing Association, he helped organize the fair and served as its emcee. Because the coronavirus pandemic forced SLU to go virtual, it also got the supporters of the fair, including the and , to think about a major change. It鈥檚 no longer a once-a-year event, but a permanent digital portal trying to connect employers with job seekers, who can create video introductions that employers can search.

That鈥檚 what Kenneth Dillon did. He鈥檚 been out of prison since 2005 and started his own limo company. But the coronavirus pandemic killed his business. He鈥檚 moved from Elgin, Illinois, to 51黑料 and is looking for meaningful employment.

鈥淚 hope that someone out there is willing to give me a chance,鈥� he says in his employment video.

With COVID-19 creating massive unemployment and prison populations trending downward, those leaving incarceration might have a more difficult time finding work than usual, Smith says.

鈥淚f we care about public safety and assisting the most vulnerable, then our region should be intentional about bringing this population into the workforce so that they can be part of the mainstream economy instead of being pushed into the underground one,鈥� he says.

Charles thinks back to his sentencing, where the federal judge suggested he鈥檇 have no trouble regaining employment in his field after his time behind bars.

鈥淲ell, that lifetime appointed public servant had no understanding of the barriers that those with a conviction face in the real world,鈥� he says. 鈥淭here is a real lack of tolerance to give anyone a chance other than low paying jobs with no benefits.鈥�