Show your support: Monday April 13, 6:00 pm at the Spokane City Council Meeting, 808 W. Spokane Falls Blvd
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In Smart Justice Spokane, we’ve known from the beginning that nothing stops the cycle of crime like a job! Our community works best when everyone in our community can work!
Please join us at the City Council meeting on Monday April 13 at 6 pm to show your support for the City’s new hiring policy, which gives applicants with criminal records a fair opportunity to be considered for City employment! The City Administration implemented the policy in December, but there was no publicity.
You can show your support by attending or by testifying! We want to support the City Council in voting on a Resolution that asks the Administration to:
1) Collaborate with the Human Rights Commission to do education and outreach regarding the new hiring policy. We support this because potential applicants deserve to understand what to expect when they apply for a job with the City. We also want private employers to learn about this policy, to understand why the City adopted it, and to consider adopting similar hiring practices.
2) Track its hiring data and issue regular reports regarding the impact this policy has on applicants with criminal records and the operations of the City. We strongly support this because it will tell us if we need to amend the policy, and it can be used to demonstrate to private employers that the policy is a win for individual employees, the City, and our community as a whole.
Our goal is that all employers, public and private, consider applicants first based on their qualifications, not on their criminal history, and give applicants an opportunity to explain their past before making a hiring decision. One in nearly three Americans has a criminal record! We cannot afford to exclude them from our economy – by doing so, businesses are missing out on qualified employees and we are preventing people who have moved past their mistakes from working hard for their families. The City is leading by example and we want to support this and encourage private employers to get on board.
For more information about Smart Hiring Policies around the nation, visit http://www.nelp.org/banthebox. If you have questions or want help with talking points, email [email protected] and [email protected]. You can also view or download our pdf handout here!
If you can’t attend, you can email your quick “I support Smart Hiring” message for support to City Council at these addresses:
[email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]