The response of the corporate and business community to the crisis in our city was immediate and generous — hundreds of thousands of dollars have been donated. However, as Don Fry, CEO and president of the Greater Baltimore Committee commented, in the long term, "there is clearly much work to be done to address long-simmering issues that require serious attention," among those "employment opportunity" ("GBC aims to help ex-offenders in wake of Baltimore's troubles," May 11).
As we all reflect on the causes and solutions for the unrest, I ask that the corporate and business community maintain and deepen its engagement especially as it relates to employment opportunities for ex-offenders. It has been often said that the Chinese word for "crisis" is composed of two characters, one representing danger and the other opportunity. As the immediate sense of danger passes, I hope that our corporate and business community will next seize the opportunity to review and reform hiring practices to open the door wide to ex-offenders returning to our community from prison.
A few key facts. The areas affected by the civil unrest receive the majority of the city's returning ex-offenders released from prison. Jobs make a huge difference in the success of a returning ex-offender. Studies show that the single biggest determinant of rearrest and re-conviction is whether an individual is able to find employment after release. Jobs are hard to find for ex-offenders. A 2006 private survey found that more than 60 percent of employers were not willing to consider individuals with a criminal record. A 2010 Society of Human Resource Management survey of its members revealed that 74 percent reported that a nonviolent felony conviction would be "very influential" in the employer's decision not to hire. In its survey, the National Employment Law Project reported that major corporations frequently used blanket no-hire policies for anyone with a felony or misdemeanor conviction.
In my professional life as a judge and legal aid lawyer and in my charitable work with ex offenders with the National Association of Women Judges Re-entry Conference, the Marian House, Tuerk House and Job Opportunities Task Force, I have seen the strong desire of ex-offenders to rejoin the community as productive citizens, mothers and fathers, sons and daughters and the discouragement, despair and indeed hopelessness as they can't get a job and remain a burden to their families. In our work, we should be guided by two clear truths: "The world owes no man a living but it owes every man an opportunity to make a living," John D. Rockefeller Jr. said. And, to quote Pope Francis: Work "is fundamental to the dignity of the person." A society that does not offer a person the possibility of work is a society that "has stripped this person of dignity."
The GBC is in a unique leadership position to launch an initiative on employment of ex-offenders — educating and assisting its members in offering the opportunity and the dignity of work to all city residents. Just as employers proudly list themselves as "Equal Opportunity Employers," they also could proudly list themselves as "Second Chance Employers."
Susan K. Gauvey, Baltimore
The writer is a retired magistrate judge for the U.S. District Court in Maryland.