🔒Can ex-offenders help solve CT’s workforce shortage? Some nonprofits, employers and policymakers think so

Timothy Conaway was luckier than many ex-offenders when leaving his eight-year prison sentence for drug-related offenses: He had already established some professional connections and quickly found a job following incarceration.

Many ex-offenders face a much tougher road back to reintegration. They simply need an opportunity, Conaway said.

“Everybody deserves a chance, just one chance,” Conaway said. “Let them show you they have the drive to work.”

As of March 1, Connecticut had 9,833 inmates incarcerated across 15 different facilities, according to data from the Department of Corrections (DOC). The DOC also tracks more than 2,000 formerly incarcerated individuals living in a halfway house or on some sort of parole.

Amid a continuing workforce shortage, employment experts, reentry nonprofits and state policymakers are putting a greater focus on enhancing the job prospects of ex-offenders, an often stigmatized group that faces higher-than-average unemployment.

A new study released in December by the U.S. Department of Justice found that of the 51,500 people released from federal prison in 2010, 33% did not find employment at any point four years after they left incarceration, and, at any given time, the group’s overall employment rate didn’t exceed 40%.

In Connecticut, the unemployment rate for formerly incarcerated individuals is four to seven times higher than the general population, according to workforce development organization Entry Point Staffing.

The state legislature’s Commerce Committee is considering a bill that would task the Department of Economic and Community Development with evaluating workforce development programs for incarcerated people and those reentering public life after prison. The bill would also create an employer toolkit to facilitate ex-offenders’ employment.

The Connecticut Business & Industry Association is pushing the bill, viewing it as an opportunity to help both people in need of better job opportunities and the sectors of the economy facing workforce shortages.

“A lot of the time this community is kind of overlooked,” said Ashley Zane, a CBIA lobbyist. “There’s so much talent within this pipeline that’s underutilized, and if we can just get them in well-paying jobs, hopefully reduce recidivism, it’s a win-win for everyone.”

Leaving prison

Conaway, 51, was arrested in 1996 on drug distribution charges and spent eight years in prison before being released in 2005.

Because of connections he made before and during prison, he quickly connected with Nafi, a youth and family social services organization, where he began working to get his life back on track. He stayed there for more than six years, working with children and families struggling with behavioral and mental health issues. When he was hired he was still on probation, Conaway said.

“I was lucky — I was always a good dude even though I did what I did,” Conaway said. “They gave me a shot.”

When he first got out of prison, Conaway said he participated in a program that helped prepare ex-offenders for employment with mock interviews, resume preparation, and job applications. Such programs are valuable to those leaving prison after several years, he said.

“I knew some people who couldn’t read,” Conaway said. “A lot of guys let pride get in the way — if you let pride get in the way you’ll never get the help.”

The number of people released from state Department of Corrections facilities varies from month to month. For example, in January, 587 people were released from DOC facilities, which was down 4% from a year earlier. In December and November, 656 and 658 people, respectively, were released, according to DOC data.

Career Resources is one workforce development agency that helps returning citizens find and retain employment. In addition to training and case management support, the Bridgeport-based organization also employs ex-offenders through Entry Point Staffing, a division the agency established in 2020.

Entry Point enters into service agreements with businesses and provides them workers, almost like long-term temps. Those businesses often go on to hire the individuals full time.

“We link them with companies that are second-chance friendly,” said Entry Point Staffing Director Lisa Tella. “We’re not as concerned about what someone did in the past, we’re focused on the future.”

Entry Point currently has contracts with 16 employers across the state, including the city of Bridgeport, and hopes to add a few more soon. Thirty people have gone through Entry Point to get employment so far, Tella said, and none have gone back to prison.

Tella said people from practically all walks of life can go to prison, no matter their social status.

“We had people who have MBAs from top business schools who have gone through the system, we have people who barely made it through middle school,” Tella said. “We see a full array of backgrounds and experiences.”

Connecting resources

CBIA’s Zane said many employers aren’t sure of the steps they need to go through in hiring formerly incarcerated people, so the state’s largest business lobby is pushing the effort to connect these resources.

“When we take a look at manufacturing alone – they’re projecting a 6,000 job deficit per-year as we move forward,” Zane said. “That’s an industry that anyone with any background given the right skills and programming, can be really successful in.”

Zane said the CBIA hopes to work with the Department of Corrections and social service organizations to create a toolkit that has resources connecting ex-offenders with employers interested in hiring them.

Helping the business community connect with nonprofit organizations that specialize in reentry programs is key, Zane said, as is sharing information and data.

“Having this one-stop shop is really going to make things easier for them,” Zane said.

Joe Toner, president of the Greater Hartford-New Britain Building Trades Council, a local trade union representing 13 crafts with 30,000 members, said his group offers apprenticeship programs for those leaving incarceration and hoping to enter the construction field. After training, these employees can apply for apprenticeships with specific unions and get to work.

“We give them 126 hours of core curriculum, and within that there’s money management pieces, sexual harassment pieces — it’s pretty extensive,” said Toner, who is also business manager for Iron Workers Local 15.

The building trades council contracted with the state corrections department and Department of Transportation to have some ex-offender trainees work on parts of the ongoing Windsor Locks train station development project. Good-paying jobs are important to curbing recidivism, Toner said, and construction union jobs can offer $20 per hour.

“We want to keep a pipeline between ex-offenders and the Building Trades Council to make sure they have a place to come if they’re interested,” Toner said. “They get a scarlet letter the moment they get out, but they did their time. We want to make sure they have an opportunity.”

Chrysalis Center CEO Sharon Castelli said her Hartford-based nonprofit has been running reentry programs for close to 20 years. The organization’s transitional services program helps those being released from prison get housing and adjust back into society.

Chrysalis previously ran an employment program where individuals would train to get credentials and licensing for skilled jobs. They were serving about 350 people a year with high success and low recidivism rates, she said.

“It gave them a starting point where they could earn an income, build that career and build that new beginning over a period of time,” Castelli said.

The state cut funding for the program years ago, Castelli said, something she called “shortsighted.” She said she wants to see the state invest more in reentry programs.

“Now’s the time to reinvest,” Castelli said. “We have people who want to work, and they may have a blemished past but the majority of them want to do better and turn their lives around.”

The Open Hearth, a Hartford-based men’s shelter, is another nonprofit that has focused on reentry. Open Hearth Works was established as a partner organization in 2016. It serves as an employment agency providing work crews that perform maintenance, cleaning and other similar services to contracted companies.

The Hartford Athletic soccer team and nonprofit Riverfront Recapture are clients.

“This is a good job to put at the top of your resume and have your supervisor as an employment reference,” said Open Hearth Works Director Stephen Haynes. “It’s kind of like giving someone a helping hand by putting them to work, really.”

The Open Hearth was one of 10 nonprofits selected by the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving’s inaugural Social Enterprise Accelerator program, which offered business plan development, implementation support and fundraising coaching to myriad organizations, including those working on reentry programs.

An untapped workforce

The Hartford Foundation works with many nonprofits that aim to help ex-offenders reenter society and find employment. Senior Public Policy and Media Relations Officer Chris Senecal said formerly incarcerated citizens are often some of the most loyal and hard working employees.

“They appreciate the fact that employers gave them a chance,” Senecal said. “We have all these employers saying ‘there’s not enough workers,’ — this is a place they can look.”

Conaway got his chance and made the most of it. Today, he works for Dungarvin Connecticut, an organization that provides services to people with disabilities or other physical or mental limitations. In addition to his day job, Conaway runs his own nonprofit, the Training and Motivation Center (TMC), with his cousin, Torrence Conaway.

The duo hosts everything from backpack drives to holiday toy collections, with a focus on helping young people. TMC received its 501(c)(3) nonprofit approval in 2021, so Conaway said the organization will continue to grow its mentorship opportunities with youth in Connecticut.

“I hate to see kids go through what I went through,” Conaway said. “I’m still eight years behind — I’m trying to catch up.”