I believe it was providential that yesterday my working day began and ended with meetings discussing the same topic: how the convicted felon who has paid their debt to society for their crimes, is going to find gainful employment.  In the morning I had a breakfast meeting with Janis Frick and Jan Gannon from Soaring Spirit Ministries.  They head this ministry that helps those who are incarcerated in several ways: worship ministry, devotional materials, prayer ministry, transition and a life leadership series.  Jan and Janis were awarded grants recently to start their own staffing service that caters specifically to those who have left prison and are now looking for gainful employment.  Experts have said that the recidivism rate for those that leave prison and don’t find a job can be as high as 65%.  In my own experience I have found that more and more of our customers are refusing to hire convicted felons for even the most basic entry level work in manufacturing and other service environments.  Soaring Spirit is working on a feasibility study to find out if a staffing enterprise can be financially sustainable in a marketplace where the number of companies willing to employ convicted felons is shrinking and the number of convicted felons, unfortunately, is not getting any smaller.

Then yesterday evening, I attended a panel discussion hosted by Cross Collaboration discussing how we can provide more job and career opportunities for the unemployed in St. Charles County.  There was a great representation from panelists that help provide resources for the unemployed along with audience members, like myself, who have a vested interest in growing the job opportunities in St. Charles County.  The discussion after the discussion led me to a group of local pastors working with convicted felons from St. Charles County and providing direction and guidance for them to find work and support themselves and their families.  One ministry in particular, Connections to Success, and one of its representatives, Jason Cleaveland, and I discussed how we can work together to not only provide the counseling necessary, but how we can educate more hiring managers as to the skilled workforce that is available and somewhat untapped in ex-convicts.

I admit this is not a new phenomena but one that grows worse each year.  Business and social leaders must come together to solve this problem.  Simply shutting out ex-convicts will not make the problem go away.