What Is Fair Chance Hiring?
After decades of building high barriers to employment for people with past convictions, companies are increasingly recognizing that there is a motivated and productive talent pool waiting on the sidelines. The unemployment rate for individuals that were formerly incarcerated is 5x higher than their peers, yet research shows that employment outcomes are equally strong, and in some cases stronger, for people with past justice involvement. Fair Chance Hiring helps maximize access to talent for employers while ensuring that past convictions do not prevent qualified people from joining the workforce.
Our Impact
Alex Love began their journey with the design and leadership of an apprenticeship program at Vice Media, making it the first media company to launch a comprehensive 6-month fair chance hiring program. With the launch of Alex Love Consulting, they helped create Levelset in partnership with Envoy where they worked with clients to start their own hiring initiatives. Alex Love Consulting continues to focus on centering Fair Chance Hiring in their practice by supporting organizations in updating their policies and hiring processes to be more supportive of people who have been justice-impacted. They are continuously committed to bringing awareness and taking actionable steps for advocacy with their expertise by facilitating leadership events and conversations.
OUR PARTNERS
The Youth Sentencing & Reentry Project (YSRP) uses direct service and policy advocacy to transform the experiences of children prosecuted in the adult criminal justice system, and to ensure fair and thoughtful resentencing and reentry for individuals who were sentenced to life without parole as children (“Juvenile Lifers”). We partner with court-involved youth and Juvenile Lifers, their families, and lawyers to develop holistic, humanizing narratives that mitigate the facts of each case; get cases transferred to the juvenile system or resentenced; and make crucial connections to community resources providing education, healthcare, housing, and employment.
Envoy (formerly LevelSet) is a social impact advisory firm specializing in organizational growth, philanthropic consulting, and Fair Chance Employment. We collaborate closely with clients on strategy and implementation, and bring a particular expertise in developing and launching new initiatives. Our team's experience spans multiple sectors and our clients range from early stage nonprofits & family foundations to large companies & membership associations. Envoy has two primary practice areas: Strategy & Philanthropy and Fair Chance Employment.
Monique Williams & American Family Insurance Institute
Alex Love and Salomon Moreno-Rosa sat down with Monique Williams, Planning and Portfolio Manager of the American Family Insurance Institute for Corporate and Social Impact. Monique discussed with Envoy American Family Insurance’s journey to becoming an industry leader in fair chance employment. Through goal setting, creating talent pipelines with local workforce-oriented reentry organizations, and developing internal HR tools, they expanded access to qualified job seekers and made a lasting impact in their communities.
Legal Perspectives on Fair Chance Hiring with Stan Ball
Stan Ball, Vice President, and Chief Litigation Counsel at Eaton Corporation, recently sat down with members of the Levelset team to talk about the company’s rationale and motivation to develop and implement Fair Chance Hiring practices. Stan speaks on his experience as a lawyer and provides helpful background on evaluating risk in hiring people with past convictions.
Exploring Negligent Hiring Law with Mae Fullerton
As employers expand Fair Chance practices, questions of compliance and liability are often part of the conversation. We address some of the immediate concerns many employers have as well as explore strategies to mitigate negligent hiring risk while implementing Fair Chance hiring practices. Please note: this session does not constitute legal advice and is simply designed to share learnings from the field.
From Pilot to Companywide Strategy with Ken Kuwamura, Union Pacific
Ken Kuwamura of Union Pacific Railroad breaks down how they have developed their talent acquisition strategy to include Fair Chance opportunities. Union Pacific began their Fair Chance Employment pilot in Houston in 2021 and since then have grown their efforts to Los Angeles and the Twin Cities. Ken discusses how working with experts like Envoy helped create new inroads with local community organizations and connect to existing training programs as a way to identify new talent.
Industry Approaches to Fair Chance Hiring with Cassi Zumbiel
While previous conversations have addressed individual employers’ Fair Chance strategies, Zumbiel speaks about opportunities to make an industry-wide impact.
The Economics of Inclusive Hiring with Jeff Korzenik
Just a few weeks after the release of his ground-breaking book, Untapped Talent: How Second Chance Hiring Works for Your Business and the Community, Alex and Matt speak with Jeff Korzenik about macro economics, gaining executive buy-in, and how a tight labor market will help drive better Fair Chance Hiring practices.
Catherine Jones & Anna Melbin, Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth
Anna Melbin, Director of Strategic Partnerships, and Catherine Jones, Co-director of Outreach and Partnership Developments, at the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth (CFSY) sit down with Levelset to discuss the organization’s mission and what makes for an effective partnership with a corporate partner. CFSY is a non-profit organization that focuses on racial justice and equity by leading efforts to ban extreme prison sentencing for children in the legal system.
Employee Retention and Culture Building with Joe DeLoss
Hot Chicken Takeover, an Ohio-based restaurant chain, has been a Fair Chance Employer since day one and built their people strategy around inclusivity. Joe and his team have created unique employee benefits and supports that are designed to be relevant and useful. The HCT culture and commitments to employee success have proven impactful -- the company has an outstanding team and turnover rate that is significantly lower that the industry.
Patrice Funderburg on Building Community Partnerships
During this segment, Matt Joyce and Alex Love introduce their colleague and co-host Salomon Moreno-Rosa and speak with Patrice Funderburg, Executive Director of The Center for Community Transitions (CCT) about supporting individuals with past justice involvement and building proactive hiring collaborations with companies.