Stand Together helps advance second chance employment

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Stand Together helps advance second chance employment

Stand Together joined other major national organizations as founding partners of the new Second Chance Business Coalition (SCBC), an effort committed to expanding hiring and advancement practices for people with criminal records.
April 27, 2021
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Reinforces Commitment to Inclusive Workforce Strategies that Include Hiring and Career Advancement Opportunities for People with a Criminal Record

[April 26, 2021] – Today, Stand Together, a philanthropic community tackling some of the biggest challenges of our times, joined with other major national organizations as founding partners of the new Second Chance Business Coalition (SCBC). This effort will work with a cross-sector group of large employers that are committed to expanding hiring and advancement practices within their companies for people with criminal records.

Approximately 70 million Americans have a criminal record. Research shows that individuals with a conviction history often experience significant collateral consequences as a result, including barriers to employment and a lack of opportunities to advance professionally. Research shows that have a criminal record, which impacts nearly one-in-three U.S. adults, can reduce the chances of having a second interview by 50 percent.

The newly formed SCBC promotes the benefits of second chance employment and provides major employers with a set of tools, relationships, and expertise to allow them to successfully hire and provide career advancement and greater economic opportunities to people with criminal records by:

  • Developing and sharing best practices, including learning from subject-matter experts and developing and deploying tools to improve second chance recruitment, retention, manager training, performance and satisfaction, as part of an inclusive workforce
  • Launching pilot initiatives to test new approaches to second chance hiring and advancement practices, including through partnerships with community service organizations and pipeline providers and by utilizing metrics to guide decision-making

The SCBC is co-chaired by JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chairman & CEO Jamie Dimon and Eaton Chairman & CEO Craig Arnold and joining Stand Together as a founding partner of the Coalition are: The Business Roundtable, the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), Dave's Killer Bread Foundation, and the Georgetown University McDonough School of Business Pivot Program. Coalition members include Bank of America, The Home Depot, GM, Cisco, JP Morgan Chase, Microsoft, Walmart, Target, and others.

A complete list of founding member of the coalition can be found here and more information about the SCBC is available at SecondChanceBusinessCoalition.org.

"Stand Together brings the world's most successful business leaders together with the country's most effective social entrepreneurs to tackle society's biggest challenges" said Stand Together CEO Brian Hooks. "So helping to found the Second Chance Business Coalition was a natural next step in or work to help transform the criminal justice system. When companies provide meaningful employment to formerly incarcerated individuals it's a win-win-win. The new employees get on a better path, the companies that hire them benefit from their talents and dedication, and society as a whole is better off."

Stand Together believes a criminal record should not put the American dream out of reach and takes a comprehensive approach to addressing this critical issue, working across they key institutions of society to drive change.

In business, we unite employers through efforts like the SCBC coalition. In education, the Charles Koch Institute continues to partner with organizations like the SHRM to fund research around second chance hiring that provides employers with the knowledge needed to make decisions for their business. In communities, Stand Together Foundation supports nonprofits like Hudson Link, which provides higher education and re-entry support to incarcerated and formerly incarcerated men and women. In government, the Stand Together community worked with the Obama Administration to "ban the box" at the federal level to encourage fair chance hiring practices.

Learn more about Stand Together's criminal justice reform efforts.

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About Stand Together
Stand Together empowers people dedicated to helping others improve their lives. Our philanthropic community tackles some of the biggest challenges of our times, including reforming the nation's criminal justice system, strengthening K-12 education, helping neighbors beat poverty and addiction, empowering everyone to find fulfilling work, and more. We can all make a greater difference by uniting, than we can by acting on our own. Learn more at www.standtogether.org and join us on Facebook, Twitter, Linked In, Instagram, and YouTube.

 
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