Job-seeking ex-cons encouraged to overcome odds

Getting a job in a sputtering economy is challenging enough. Add a prison record to the mix, and “challenging” becomes next-to-impossible.

“People with all types of degrees are out of work,” said Charles Brown, who did time for selling drugs and is in a community corrections program. “Once you go out there and try to get a job, who do you think they’re going to hire? They don’t want no felons or nothing.”

But Zelna Joseph isn’t about to let ex-cons drown at the bottom of the job-candidate pool.

As president and CEO of SET Family Medical Clinics, which operates a re-entry program for ex-offenders, she and her colleagues put on a “Jail to Jobs” workshop Wednesday to motivate and educate a roomful of people struggling to find employment.

“People have to reinvent themselves,” Joseph said.  “We are no longer a society that forgives and forgets. Even though they’ve done their time, they don’t get a fair start in starting over.”

SET has about 1,200 ex-offenders in its the Comprehensive Healthcare Re-entry Program, which started in October 2008 to reduce recidivism by focusing on participants’ physical and mental health.

“We believe that if you have health challenges, how can you go out and find a job and do all the other things you need if you’re not feeling well?” she said to the crowd of mostly young men.

The barriers to finding a job, however, are staggering.

“It’s twice or three times as hard as it is for people with a criminal background to find employment due to our economy, because they’re going up against people who have no barriers,” said Terence Jackson, director of access services for Pikes Peak Workforce Center.

“They have to have tenacity ... but they do have to recognize that barriers can stand in their way some time.”

The Pikes Peak Workforce Center has contact with about 40 felony-friendly businesses, Jackson said, and there are tax breaks for those who employ ex-cons. But the jobs aren’t open to everyone.

“It has to do with what the crime is,” he said.

Jackie Houston, owner of the North End Diner, has hired ex-offenders for 15 years, but she won’t take on anyone who has served time for violent crimes.

“Most of our folks are DUI offenders and drug dealers,” she said.

She’s been burned a few times by her hires, but she knew it could happen, given the statistics on recidivism. It isn’t enough to keep her from hiring more ex-cons.

“We should all feel an obligation to help the folks,” she said. “In all honesty, you have to offer them something where they can start to build a little self-esteem, self-respect and transition back to real world.”

Failure to do so has larger consequences for society, according to a report issued earlier this year by The Pew Charitable Trusts.

“Incarceration carries significant and enduring economic repercussions for the remainder of the person’s working years,” according to the report, “Collateral Costs: Incarceration’s Effect on Economic Mobility.” “When returning offenders can find and keep legitimate employment, they are more likely to be able to pay restitution to their victims, support their children and avoid crime.”

During Wednesday’s workshop, guest speaker Eric Mayo, author of “From Jail to a Job,” gave the participants several hours’ worth of advice, both philosophical (“find out what your dream is”) and practical. He acknowledged the barriers of being an ex-con and suggested one workaround is starting one’s own job.

Some ex-offenders seemed heartened by his advice. Others were skeptical that they could ever have the edge over someone without a record.

“They want to know what I was in for, and when they find out what the drug is — meth — it’s over,” said Bobby, 30, who asked that his last name be withheld. “But I have to be hopeful, or I’ll just give up.”