WKYC Makes News for a Fan!

By Laura Desmond Click here to read all of TE Pathway News: Fall 2023 Laura Desmond is a consultant for Towards Employment and attended the Chance to Advance event in…

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Real-Time Takes: Second Sentence

A recent New York Times article delved into a devastating fact: over 60 percent of those leaving prison in the United States are unemployed a year later. While prejudice against returning citizens is hardly a thing of the past, recent polling suggests that the majority of Americans believe that people who have been convicted of crimes deserve a second chance.1

A major reason for the disconnect between the facts on the ground and public opinion is something that experts who work with reentering citizens call “collateral consequences.” These are the legally imposed barriers that those who have served their time face, hurdles that I have come to view as a second sentence.

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Real-Time Takes: Job Quality

When I ask my kids if they like their job, the first thing they mention is how much it pays – or does not pay. But whatever the pay scale and fringe benefits, the conversation soon turns to the quality of their job.

It turns out that most Americans agree that the quality of their job has a strong impact on their quality life.1

Covid put pressure on everybody at work and 40 percent of Americans working in 2020 experienced a decline in the quality of their jobs.2

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Linda Butts

I am living proof that you can come from nothing and be something.
I am a product of the foster care system, and I raised my children as a single Mom. I faced obstacles and I found resources. Now I get to tell how I did it. My life experience proves that things can get better, that you have choices. After 10 years in one career, I left on my own terms, in good standing. I wanted to find something different for the next phase in my life. And I did. I remember back to my time at Towards Employment. It was not always easy- I had to learn to be disciplined. I remember some things so well – a staff member always said, “Dress for the job ahead.” And I always have.

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Greg Reaves

Lived experience matters.
When I first came home, I worked in a shelter. I knew shelters exited. I had heard about them. But that is not experience. During my time in the shelter, I learned a lot about being homeless and about nonprofits in Cleveland. This has given me a special connection to people and a knowledge of when and where resources are needed – I do know what people go through, because I went through it. Everybody can feel that they go through things by themselves. That no one knows what they are facing. That is where experience comes in – and why stories matter. When we see ourselves in each other, no one is alone.

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