Federal program offers them chance to work, contribute to society, beat back recession

From Houston Chronicle:

CHICAGO — George Outland had just one requirement when applying for a job: It had to be at a business that didn't check his criminal background, or didn't care.

After Outland served three years in prison for burglary, he could land only short-term work moving furniture or delivering food.

It's difficult for ex-felons to find steady jobs even in good economic times, with unemployment rates sometimes as high as 75 percent one year out of prison. During the worst recession in a quarter century, it can be almost impossible.

"During worse times, employers are unwilling to take chance on anyone who seems at all risky," said Devah Pager, an assistant sociology professor at Princeton University.

Groups trying to change that see hope in a $50 million project tucked into Congress' budget blueprint that aims to prove that spending money on the hardest to employ, including ex-offenders, is as worthwhile as helping the middle class.

Advocates say there are good reasons for employers and communities to help former felons re-enter the work force.

With an estimated 650,000 people released from prison each year nationwide, helping them get jobs can reduce the chances that they will be jailed again or need welfare.

Meeting basic needs

U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald tells businesses in Chicago that hiring ex-felons is one of the best ways to reduce violent crime because it erases the reason behind many offenses.

It can also provide an economic boost to some of the nation's poorest neighborhoods.

"Those who did not have income before now do, and they need to spend all of it to meet their basic needs," said Amy Rynell, executive director of the Chicago-based Social IMPACT Research Center.

Though no statistics are available yet tracking the ability of ex-felons to get jobs in the current recession, advocates say it's certainly harder than usual.

So they're stepping up efforts to persuade lawmakers and businesses to support jobs programs for parolees.

Among the most successful have been "transitional" plans that find businesses, communities or organizations willing to hire ex-felons, usually for a few months, while they learn basic job skills.

Those types of programs are the ones targeted by the federal project, which would study how well they help the chronically unemployed, including ex-felons.

'I actually love it'

Outland began working full time this summer for a property management company through a transitional program run by the Chicago nonprofit Heartland Human Care Services.

He's paid minimum wage of $8 an hour to answer phones, enter data and learn to help manage accounts. He's making ends meet with just a few dollars left over each month, but at age 50 feels for the first time as if he has a shot at a real career.

"I would love to stay in the real estate field," Outland said after distributing parking passes to tenants at an apartment building. "I love it now; I actually love it. ... it makes me feel important."