NORRISTOWN – So they’ve paid their debts to society – what’s next for them?
The Fatherhood Initiative job fair could well be the next step that ex-offenders need to turn their lives around.
With its third job fair the offshoot of CADCOM (Community Action Development Organization), which works with ex-offenders as they readjust to life outside of prison, is once again looking to unite clients with employers who feel that they are indeed eminently employable, regardless of mistakes they’ve made in the past.
Companies who will be on board come Monday include Brown’s ShopRite; Manpower; Impact Thrift Stores; Sonic Drive-In; SEPTA; J.P. Mascaro & Sons and Two Men & a Truck.
As job developer for Fatherhood Initiative, Ted LeBlanc has expressed his gratitude to the businesses who participate, and advised job seekers to bring resumes and dress to impress.
Jeans, tank tops, shorts and the like are taboo.
‘Wear what I like to call church clothes,’ he said.
Courting ex-offenders with minor infractions is nothing new for Brown’s ShopRite, noted Sandy Brown, co-owner of the supermarket chain.
‘We’ve been doing this for three to four years, so we are really familiar with the guidelines. A person might have a previous record, and we don’t want to hire anybody who would be a risk to people, but if it was a minor thing, something that was not that big of a deal, our operations team would investigate it and make sure it meets our standards. And should that be the case we see no reason why we shouldn’t give them a second chance. I have a number of associates,’ added Brown, who owns the chain with her husband, CEO Jeff Brown, ‘who could not get a job after applying everywhere because they had a previous record. We would employ them, and now they’re in management and they’re doing fabulous and setting the right example to other people.’
Brown’s Super Stores, Inc. operates 10 ShopRite supermarkets in Pennsylvania, including East Norriton, and one in New Jersey, employing more than 2,300 associates as it frequently partners with local nonprofit organizations to fight hunger, prevent violence and help underprivileged youth in the communities it serves, Brown noted.
‘We’re really involved with our communities, particularly in the urban areas. I’ve spoken to a number of stores in ‘food deserts’ – places where there is no access to fresh, affordable food. In opening those types of stores you have to be in touch with the people and have a lot of community involvement.’
When inviting feedback, Brown said one of the comments she hears most often is the lack of jobs for ex-offenders.
‘A number of people that live in these communities are ex-offenders, who’ve previously served time. And because of that they can’t get a job. How do you help a community re-gentrify when a huge portion of the people living there can’t get employment, particularly ones who may have been arrested for having marijuana, which now may not even get them arrested anymore? But because they had any type of criminal record, people won’t hire them. So that’s what started us down this road with our commitment to helping these communities. When you know the challenges the people who live in these communities face, they’re so happy that somebody is giving people a second chance.’
The East Norriton store on Germantown Pike currently employs 180 people, and with a major expansion in the works, will be adding to the staff before too long, Brown said.
‘If everything transpires as I’m hoping for the addition we will probably go up to 225 or 230 people. If there are candidates out there who may have an issue because they had a previous record, we would love to give them a second chance, just like we have in our urban communities.’
Brown said customers and store associates alike have been mostly favorably responsive to ex-offenders.
‘One time somebody sent an email to me that they had seen somebody working at the store who had been in jail, and why would we be letting them work there? Well, we would never do anything that might be a safety issue for anyone,’ Brown said. ‘In all the time we’ve been doing this, that was the only negative reaction we’ve had.’
Follow Gary Puleo on Twitter @Mustangman48.
