Job Fair To Assist Those With Criminal Records

COLUMBUS, GA: A job fair is set to be held on Tuesday, July 30, 2019, that will assist residents in the area who have a criminal record with locating a job. In addition, to the job fair, a workshop will be held that will provide ex-offenders with information about understanding and correcting their criminal record.

NewLife-Second Chance Outreach, Inc with the support of The Mayor's Commission on Reentry is hosting their 3rd annual One Stop Shop Resource and Job Fair on Tuesday. The job fair is designed to cater to residents who have criminal records.

The job fair will be held on Tuesday, July 30, 2019, from 10:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m. at Friendship Baptist Church inside of the A.W. Fortson Building. Friendship Baptist Church is located at 831 6th Avenue Columbus, GA.

During the event, the Georgia Justice Project's Understanding and Correcting your criminal record workshop will be held in a classroom from 10:30 a.m.-noon at the event.

Job seekers are encouraged to arrive early there will be no one admitted to the event after 12:40 p.m. For more information you can visit www.nlscoinc.org.

There are nearly three million residents in Georgia that are estimated to have some type of criminal record. The state releases around 16,000 offenders from prison annually. Many of those who are released have trouble readjusting to society or locating legitimate employment. The state sees around one out of every three offenders end up back in prison on similar charges after release.

Several steps have been taken statewide to attempt to allow ex-offenders an opportunity to re-enter society as a productive citizen. In 2015, former Governor Nathan Deal signed an executive order than banned the box on job applications for prospective state employees who were not applying for sensitive governmental positions. The practice allows prospective state employees an opportunity to not be disqualified from employment without explanation.

Several cities in the state have also taken measures to ban the box in the hiring process. The city of Columbus is one of the handful of cities to ban the box during the initial application process. In addition to Columbus the cities of Atlanta, Augusta, Albany, and South Fulton have all passed ordinances that take away the criminal history question for some positions before moving forward with the applicant. Fulton, Cherokee, and Macon-Bibb County have passed similar measures.

Elected officials across the nation are seeing the ban the box measure as a way to create a level playing field for individuals who have served their time and wish to not re-enter the justice system by gaining legitimate employment. The resource and job fair is another measure that is helping to keep ex-offenders from reentering the judicial system.