DRCPP PROJECTS + CAMPAIGNS
Education from the Inside Out: The DRCPP co-founded the Education from the Inside Out Coalition (the Coalition) in 2008 with College and Community Fellowship (CCF) – a New York City-based organization providing social services and advocacy on behalf of students with criminal records – to build a foundation for change and advocate for this important issue. Please sign our petition by clicking here.
The Education from the Inside Out Coalition is a nonpartisan collaborative of advocates whose mission is to remove barriers to higher education facing students in prison. We seek to educate policymakers and advocate for a change in the policy that bans Pell Grant eligibility for incarcerated individuals in order to re-establish the opportunity for people to earn college degrees while in prison. Why? Because providing higher education to incarcerated students has been proven to reduce recidivism, strengthen underserved communities, increase employment, and reduce poverty.
Click here to download the full policy brief, and here to download the fact sheet. You can also click on the “CONTACT US” Link at the top of the EIO Coalition website to request information and materials, if you would like to help spread the word about this critical issue!
Employment Discrimination Education and Awareness Campaign: During the 2010 holiday season, a towering, fully-illuminated billboard urging employers to hire qualified job seekers with criminal histories presided over Times Square – part of The Fortune Society and DRCPP’s citywide campaign to raise awareness about employment discrimination practices against those who were formerly incarcerated. Located on 270 West 43rdth Avenue, above the Westin Hotel, the 20 x 60-foot billboard was posted from December 3rd through January 17th. Between 25 and 40 million people are estimated to have passed this billboard during the seven weeks it was up – plus the additional one million people in Times Square over New Years Eve – a level of exposure that is unprecedented in Fortune’s history. Street and 8
Fortune’s multi-pronged campaign, timed to coincide with the holiday-hiring season, also included the distribution of more than 2,000 posters to large New York City employers and Human Resource departments that explain the State law (Article 23-A of the Correction Law) which makes it illegal to discriminate against someone solely because of a criminal conviction. The posters also tell the compelling stories, with accompanying photographs, of three Fortune Society clients who sought employment when they were released from prison.
In 2008, Fortune launched a bus campaign to highlight the issue of employment discrimination against job seekers with criminal records, publicize the passage of the Employment Education Act (for more information about this act, a part of the State Correction Law, please see below), and convince formerly incarcerated individuals that they will have a better chance at a successful reentry transition if they call 311 Jail Release Services or visit us at The Fortune Society. This poster was targeted primarily towards people who have been recently released from jail or prison in NY and their immediate family members, and secondarily towards opinion leaders, city officials, decision-makers and influencers, and other key stakeholders around this issue. The poster is shown below:
The Employer Education Act, the first bill introduced by The Fortune Society’s David Rothenberg Center for Public Policy (sponsored by Assemblyman Jeffrion L. Aubry and Senator Dale M. Volker), was signed into law by Governor Patterson in August 2008. This law:
- Requires employers and potential employers to provide a copy of Article 23-A of the Correction Law to job seekers when running criminal background checks. This law makes it illegal to automatically deny employment to qualified job seekers with criminal records and provides guidance on how criminal history information can be appropriately and legally considered amidst the hiring process; and
- Requires the conspicuous posting of Article 23-A in the workplace.
Discrimination against men and women with criminal records who want to work hurts our communities, threatens public safety, and contributes to recidivism. This new law will prove instrumental in advancing the efforts of thousands of job seekers with criminal records to enter the labor market and become productive, self-sufficient citizens of New York State.
In 2008-2009, DRCPP worked closely with our allies to successfully advocate for meaningful reform of New York State’s Rockefeller Drug Laws.Unlike the basic reforms of 2004 and 2005, the 2009 RDL reforms contained many far-reaching changes, including: reduced sentences for the majority of drug offenses; restoring judicial discretion and ending mandatory minimums for most drug offenses; expanding and funding community-based drug treatment programs – including Alternatives to Incarceration for people convicted of drug offenses; and providing retroactive sentencing relief to people currently incarcerated under the Rockefeller Drug Laws (RDL).