‘Second chance’ at employment sought for Kentuckians leaving incarceration
Republished from Kentucky Lantern
Gov. Andy Beshear has established a council aimed at promoting employment of Kentuckians reentering society after incarceration.
Beshear signed an executive order Thursday to establish the Governor’s Council of Second Chance Employers. The 15-member council will “educate employers and local communities on the benefits of second-chance hiring,” according to Beshear’s office.
The council will also “advocate for laws and investments to improve reentry outcomes and develop best practices for effective reentry programming,” Beshear said.
Members are to meet quarterly and provide an annual report to the governor’s office including their findings and recommendations.
“Investing in second chances makes us safer and addresses some workforce challenges that we’re seeing all across the country,” Beshear said during a Thursday press conference.
The initial council will have these members, with two-year terms, according to the executive order:
- Tyler Stegall with BlueOval S
- Barbara Aker with More than a Bakery
- Steve Powless with Lifeline Recovery Center
- Rob Perez with DV8 Kitchen
- Stephen Johnson with Martin Contracting
- Nick D’Andrea with UPS
- John Estus with Amazon
- Chad Mills with Kentucky State Building and Construction Trades Council
- Ryan Quarles, president of the Kentucky Community and Technical College System
- Tami Wilson with Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce
- LaKisha Miller with Kentucky Chamber of Commerce
The remaining four members will be the governor and the secretaries or designees of three cabinets — Health and Family Services, Education and Labor, and Justice and Public Safety.
The council will “give us folks that not only can communicate the success that they have had with second chance employment, but they also can provide feedback for us and our programs to make sure we’re doing it right, to make sure that the skills that we’re providing while someone is incarcerated match up with the jobs that are on the other end and to create a flow of communication where we can try to do better and better and better in real time getting that feedback,” Beshear said.
Kerry Harvey, special advisor for reentry programs, said about 15,000 former inmates reenter Kentucky society annually. And, he said, “successful reentry programming offers an enormous return on investment to taxpayers” and can help prevent recidivism.
“Everybody wins if those who reenter society from prison succeed,” he said. “And in this context, success means that our reentering inmate does not commit a new crime, does not reoffend.”
“It means that our reentering inmate obtains meaningful employment at a living wage and can support their families, both financially and emotionally,” Harvey said. “It means that they become role models for their children and their grandchildren.”
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