Last month over two dozen employers from across the metro came to the Fair Chance Hiring Workshop and Expo hosted by the Criminal Justice Advisory Council of Oklahoma County and the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber. With the Fair Chance Hiring movement gaining nationwide recognition and unemployment rates nearing close to pre-pandemic levels, CJAC partnered with the chamber to present a statistically sound method of ensuring that Oklahoma City’s economy continues to thrive.
Fair-chance hiring refers to the practice of hiring qualified job candidates despite low-level, nonviolent, criminal offenses they committed in their past. Countless studies show that doing so leads to safer communities and stronger economies.
In Oklahoma County, where it costs approximately $22,000 to incarcerate an individual for one year and $5,000 to send that same individual to Drug Court, treatment courts have saved the state $112,791,000. Likewise, ReMerge Oklahoma, which provides diversion programs for low-level, nonviolent women offenders who have minor children, has saved Oklahoma more than $42 million by routing more than 100 women to its diversion program since its inception in 2011.
ReMerge Executive Director Jenna Morey emphasized that the program’s graduates are ready to commit to the workforce.
“It’s easier to sit in prison than it is to complete our program,” she said at the expo. “Our graduates are dedicated to improving their lives, finding employment and making a better future for themselves and their families.”
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