A media blitz that uses television, radio and web sites to encourage area businesses to hire formerly incarcerated persons has been created by the District of Columbia’s Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency. The radio segments will include interviews with those in reentry and businesses, while YouTube will feature a video on the subject.
In an article published recently in the Washington Post, Leonard Snipes Jr., a public affairs specialist with the agency, related that the response to the campaign is unclear at this time, but that by utilizing the input of the business community, a clearer picture of what is expected and needed to encourage the hiring of ex offenders will be established.
DC has approximately 16,000 people at any given time under supervision, according to the Washington Post. While the unemployment rate of ex offenders has dropped from 50 percent to 47 percent in the past six months, this segment of DC’s population has obstacles in securing employment.
Washington is known as a mecca for job seekers from around the world. Most of these job seekers have college and graduate degrees, something that the formerly incarcerated in DC often lack. The media attention to hire some one with a criminal background is designed to obtain important feedback from employers as to why, or why not, they would hire someone in this category.
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