Workshops
At The Building Bridges: Fair Chance Summit, participants will have the opportunity to engage in a Reentry Simulation, attend a Fair Chance Hiring Expert Employer Panel, and choose one of four Concurrent Sessions: Tools for Sharpening Your Hiring Practice skills-development workshops to advance their fair chance hiring practice.
Reentry Simulation
Each year, just over 650,000 Americans are released from America’s jails and prisons and attempt to return home to their communities, with varying levels of family support, financial resources, and motivation. Most of them will experience many of the same overwhelming challenges and feelings of hopelessness and desperation. Not surprisingly, about 65% of those who reenter will return to prison within three years.
The Reentry Simulation can create a powerful, eye-opening experience that sheds harsh light on the reasons for that high national recidivism rate. And it can do so in just two hours. Participants in the simulation are given the “identity” of a formerly incarcerated person, including: a hypothetical conviction, education level, a place to live and a small sum of money they’ve managed to save during their incarceration. Participants receive instructions for both practical and court-ordered obligations they must complete each week. Fifteen minutes represents one week. At the end of each fifteen minutes, participants are evaluated for progress or failure.
Through the total two-hours of simulation and discussion, participants will learn more about the reentry landscape, experience a sense of the challenges involved with reentry after a period of incarceration, and see themselves in the solution.
Concurrent Sessions: Tools for Sharpening Your Hiring Practice
At the Building Bridges: Fair Chance Summit, participants will have the opportunity to engage in a skills-development workshop to advance their fair chance hiring practice. These sessions will hone in on specific skills that we have seen employers navigate in their fair chance hiring journeys. Whether you’re just starting to think about expanding your talent pool to include top talent with records, need to brush up on a specific skill area, or are a seasoned veteran of this work there will be something useful for you to take back to your teams.
Fair Chance Hiring 101
In this session, participants will ground in the basics of fair chance hiring best practices. Participants will be guided through the industry-standard five steps to getting started with fair chance hiring with expert facilitators. Choose this session to learn:
- How to understand your local, state, and federal guidelines around fair chance hiring
- How to understand your internal HR policies and legitimate barriers to fair chance hiring - and bust myths along the way
- How to find your business motivation to get started with fair chance hiring
- How to work with a skilled talent partner to find top talent with records
Facilitated by Damany Fisher, MTOW
Individualized Assessment Clinic
In this session, participants will learn how to compliantly and fairly read a background check report and make a hiring decision. Participants will distinguish between legitimate risk and moralist triggers and bias, functionally navigate a background check report, and dig into candidate stories. Choose this session to learn:
- About the history of Ban-the-Box and other local, state, and federal protections for fair chance talent
- How to conduct a nature-time-nature test with real life scenarios
- How to distinguish between legitimate risk and stigma, moralistic triggers, and unconscious bias to maintain compliance
Facilitated by Rehana Lerandeau, MTOW
Becoming an Ally
This dynamic course is designed to empower individuals and employers with the knowledge and tools needed to create a supportive and inclusive workplace environment for employees in recovery from substance use disorders (SUD) and mental illness. Participants will explore evidence-based strategies, practical solutions, and best practices to foster a culture of understanding, compassion, and resilience.
Facilitated by Jeff Wolfsberg, Recovery Friendly Workplaces
Programs
Services
Career Services
CCRI Career Services provides students and alumni with high-quality services, support, and resources for successful career planning and superior experiential learning opportunities.
Employer Solutions
The CCRI Workforce Partnerships Team works in close collaboration with industry and business leaders to ensure the college’s offerings are meeting both current and future workforce needs.