Dear John, 

On this last day of April--Second Chance Month--we wanted to reach out and inform you about the work ARC has been doing for years in this area, the different ways we’ve highlighted Second Chance Month over the past few weeks, and why your support matters to keep this work going. 

                             

• Earlier this month, we hosted a Fireside Chat discussing fair chance hiring with a panel of experts: Jeffrey Korzenik, author, speaker, and economic explorer; Genevieve Martin, Executive Director of Dave’s Killer Bread Foundation; and Emily Blake, Smart Justice Program Officer with Michelson 20MM Foundation.                                            

• On Wednesday, our Director of National Advocacy, Michael Mendoza, spoke at a press conference introducing three pieces of federal legislation focused on youth justice. This is the first year in ARC’s history that we are supporting federal legislation and, if passed, these bills will become nationwide laws. Ensuring children are treated as children by our judicial system is the first step at providing children who commit crimes with second chances. The press release describing the package of legislation is here: https://antirecidivism.org/news/advocates-praise-bi-partisan-reform-package-that-treats-children-in-the-criminal-justice-system-like-children/. 

• Employment:
  • Through our Apprenticeship Readiness Program, we place members directly into paid union apprenticeships, leading to secure, sustainable careers in building and construction trades. We have successfully placed over 250 Members in union jobs. 
  • In 2018, alongside CALFIRE, California Conservation Corps (CCC), and California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR), we co-opened Ventura Training Center, which allows participants who have left prison the opportunity to further train and obtain employment as firefighters. Since the program started, we have helped over 100 Members become firefighters. Today, we co-hosted a graduation to celebrate cohorts four, five, and six!
• Housing:
  • Men and women returning home from incarceration face barriers to safe, affordable housing, which can further prevent our community members from maintaining steady employment and accessing the critical services needed for successful reentry. ARC has two housing programs -- one for youth and one for people who have had longer sentences. These two supportive housing programs provide on-site life skills programming, trauma counseling, education and employment guidance, and live-in mentors to promote independent living and overall wellness. 
• Policy:
  • We have helped pass a number of policies to help formerly incarcerated people overcome the barriers they face once they are released. These policies include:
    • SB 312 (2017): Restores a youth’s ability to seal his/her juvenile court record, and therefore increase their chances of finding and maintaining stable employment and other opportunities.
    • AB 2138 (2018): Prohibits a person from being denied an occupational license solely on the basis that he or she has been convicted of a nonviolent crime.
    • SB 866 (2018): Established the Pre-Release Construction Trades Certificate Program in the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation in order to increase employment opportunities by providing students the option of earning industry recognized education credits that, upon release, lead to union jobs in the construction trades.

                              

Our staff at ARC fights every day to ensure that people who are formerly incarcerated do not face inequitable burdens when reentering society. Most people who are incarcerated never even had a first chance at success. This Second Chance Month, help us help our people by making a gift today, and showing your support for fair chances for everyone. 
 

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Thank you so much in advance for thinking about this, and for your continued allyship this month and beyond.
 
Sincerely,
Sam

Executive Director
Anti-Recidivism Coalition