December 13, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

For more information, contact Ibis Antongiorgi, Press Secretary to Cook County Board President Todd H. Stroger, at 312-603-0396 or by email at iantongiorgi@cookcountygov.com. 

Stroger, County officials join jobseekers, agencies in event to highlight employment initiatives 

New ordinance targeting employment incentives for hiring of ex-offenders part of larger mix of job programs spearheaded by Cook County, including new round of grants to agencies – and award honoring POET for outreach to people with disabilities.

See below for high-resolution photos.

CHICAGO, December 13, 2007 – Cook County Board President Todd H. Stroger joined County Commissioners Robert Steele and Jerry Butler, and a host of agency representatives and job-training clients at Chicago City Colleges’ Dawson Technical Institute to showcase the President’s Re-entry Employment/Bid Incentive program and a series of other efforts designed to help jobseekers and employers in Cook County.

The County Board recently passed the re-entry employment program as an ordinance, and also approved more than $9 million in grants to local agencies through POET – the President’s Office of Employment Training – designed to connect jobseekers with employers and training to enhance their competitive edge in the workforce.

Speakers included Dr. Wayne Watson, Chancellor of the City Colleges of Chicago; Commissioner Steele, who has been a vocal proponent of efforts to help ex-offenders turn their lives around; Commissioner Butler, whose County district houses Dawson Technical Institute; Jovina Hicks, Director of Policy at the Safer Foundation, which has been working for more than thirty years to reduce recidivism and help formerly incarcerated individuals re-enter their communities; and Rachel McDonald, Executive Director of the Central States SER-Jobs For Progress, a workforce development project and POET grantee that provides job-training programs to foster upward mobility and economic self-sufficiency for low-income residents.

Attendees also got to review Dawson student classroom projects in the training institute’s carpentry program, plumbing and fire protection program, and construction painting program. Dawson currently partners with POET in job-training initiatives and is expected to work with Cook County to implement the new ordinance, as well.

“My administration is committed to stepping up the effort to help connect County residents with job opportunities,” said President Stroger. “That means helping displaced workers retrain for employment in new fields, helping adults and youth connect with training and skills development programs that make them more competitive in the job market, and helping ex-offenders find gainful employment as an incentive to stay out of the criminal justice system.”

The new re-entry ordinance allows bidders seeking County construction work valued at $100,000 or more a chance to have their bids reduced up to one percent in the competitive bidding process in exchange for agreeing to use ex-offenders to perform between five and fifteen percent of the hours contracted.

The re-entry ordinance calls for the creation of a Cook County Re-entry Employment Committee to work with non-profits to identify former offenders who might become candidates to work with private companies on County contracts. The Re-entry Employment Committee’s seven members include representatives from the Cook County Bureau of Human Resources, the Cook County Department of Capital Planning, POET, the Cook County Office of Contract Compliance, an outside nonprofit group with the mission to reintegrate ex-offenders into society, and two representatives appointed by the County Board President -- one of whom represents organized labor and one County Commissioner. 

The ordinance also mandates POET to work with Board-approved nonprofit organizations that help former incarcerated individuals re-enter their communities and reduce recidivism to create pools of former offenders who can enroll in courses in State-certified programs to learn trades – ultimately enabling the Cook County Re-entry Employment Committee to recommend these former offenders to vendors.

“Any realistic efforts to reduce the jail population must include real opportunities for ex-offenders to work and earn a living,” said President Stroger. “This ordinance is a linchpin in our larger efforts to encourage the private sector to provide job opportunities for people who are serious about improving their lives. I’m proud that my administration has been able to work with County Commissioner Earlean Collins, Robert Steele and other Cook County Commissioners to advance this program.”

According to the Chicago Urban League, more than 30,000 men and women are released from Illinois prisons each year -- over two and a half times the number released two decades ago. More than half of those individuals return to the City of Chicago alone, and County-wide those numbers are even higher, with particularly high concentrations of returnees in neighborhoods like Englewood and Humboldt Park.

In 2001, more than two thirds of those released were African American, and 48% percent were under the age of 31. Over one-third had been serving time for drug offenses. The average length of time served was approximately one and one-third years, with over 60 percent of released inmates having served less than one year. More than half had been in an Illinois prison at least once before, and 27 percent had been admitted to prison based on technical violations of their parole. Active probation cases in Cook County routinely top 40,000 cases per year, according to the Illinois Criminal Justice Authority -- or more than 800 per 100,000 residents.

“Whole communities are affected by the ability of these individuals to find stable employment and housing, and this ordinance is designed to tackle those challenges,” added President Stroger.

POET’s and Cook County’s role in administering the new ordinance mirrors POET’s larger mission to help connect Cook County jobseekers with living wage employment.

POET has worked aggressively to raise public awareness of its job placement and training services, and to reach out to prospective employers in the business community. That has included POET participation in a series of job fairs in south and west suburban Cook County this fall, including the Rock for Ages Ex-Offender Job Fair in Maywood and the POET sponsored 17th Annual Operation Access to Employment for Persons with Disabilities Job and Resource Fair in Oak Lawn, which drew more than 600 people. Both events were held this October.

Since December 2006, POET has placed approximately 800 adult and dislocated workers into jobs with an average salary of $12.68/hr. On average, that represents roughly 8% in wage reductions for dislocated workers – compared to the national average of over 20% in salary loss. The agency has also worked aggressively in the last year to revise and update fiscal policies and procedures to foster best practices in fiscal oversight. POET recently subcontracted $9.3 million for training and job placement services for January through September 2008.

POET’s efforts on behalf of constituencies like people with disabilities has not gone unacknowledged; the agency was recently named the co-recipient along with Operation Access of the prestigious 2007 Henry B. Betts Employment Advocacy Award, presented by the Rehabilitative Institute of Chicago, for a continued commitment in bringing awareness to the employability of persons with disabilities.

Among those attending Thursday’s press conference was former POET client Lisa Taylor, who took POET-sponsored computer training at Moraine Valley Community College. “Before I completed POET-supported computer training, the economic outlook for me and my kids was grim,” says Taylor. “Without POET’s help, I never would have been able to get this job training – and the job I have now. I can’t say enough about everyone involved in the program. It has changed my life forever and everyone involved from top to bottom, was fabulous to work with!” Lisa received job search assistance, personal and career counseling, and peer support through POET and the State of Illinois – and ultimately parleyed that effort into work as a computer professional at more than $35/hr.

Besides Chancellor Watson, Ms. Williams, Ms. McDonald and Commissioners Steele and Butler, others in attendance or lending support on Thursday included Clyde El-Amin, President of Kennedy-King College, which has oversight of Dawson Technical; Eric J. Griggs, Provost of Dawson Technical Institute and its Small Business Entrepreneurship& Apprenticeship Programs; Angela R. Rudolph, Assistant to the Mayor for Re-entry, Office of the Mayor for the City of Chicago; Esther Franco-Payne, Program Director of the Chicago Metropolis 2020 Justice Violence Initiative; Sharod Gordon, Co-convenor of the Developing Justice Coalition; Anthony Lowery, Director of Policy and Advocacy for the Safer Foundation; Patricia Watkins, Executive Director of TARGET Area DevCorp; Yusufu L. Mosley, Program Facilitator for Positive Anti-Crime Thrust, Inc.; Joseph Watkins, Chairman and CEO of Saving Our Seeds Inc.; Benneth Lee of the National Alliance to Restore Citizenship for Ex-Offenders; Safer Foundation job coach William Moore; Joyce Lamberta and June Garcia of the National Able Network, Cook County’s partner for the Operation Access to Employment Job Fair for Persons w/ Disabilities and a POET grantee for job-training programs; Eddie Read, community activist and CEO of United Services of Chicago, which provides services to ex-offenders; and POET retraining client Lisa Taylor.

The event included a strong showing of support from area ministers, including those who have been vocal proponents of projects designed to help ex-offenders turn their lives around. Ministers attending or otherwise extending support to Thursday’s press conference included Rev. Al Sampson of Fernwood United Methodist Church; Father Michael Phleger of St. Sabina; Rev. Dr. Lewis Flowers, President of the Westside Ministers Coalition; Rev. Alise Barrymore, Pastor of The Emmaus Community in Chicago Heights, IL; Rev. James M. Moody, Sr., Quinn Chapel AME Church; Rev. Yehiel Curry of Shekinah Chapel, SIMBA, The Gathering for Justice; Pastor Willie Davis of Progressive B.C.; Pastor St. John Chisum of the Gifts From God Ministry and Chair of Pastors from Englewood; Apostle Carl L. White Jr., of Victory Christian Assembly in Markham, IL and more than a dozen ministers accompanying him. Other ministers in attendance or extending support included Pastor Carl L. White, Sr., Pastor Charles A. Mickens, Pastor William Jenkins, Jr., Minister Timothy White, Ms. Jackie Summerville, Dr. Timothy A. Treadwell, Apostle William McCoy, Pastor Robert House, Pastor Samuel Hinkle, Pastor Jeffrey Mullins, Bishop Steve Jones, Bishop Troy Garner, Pastor Casey January, and Pastor Kenneth Franklin.

In addition, three Dawson instructors – construction carpentry program coordinator James Murray; plumbing and fire protection instructor Theoda Smith; and construction painting instructor Gregory Oby -- offered attendees the opportunity to observe students conducting trial construction projects.

For more information, contact Ibis Antongiorgi, Press Secretary to Cook County Board President Todd H. Stroger, at 312-603-0396 or iantongiorgi@cookcountygov.com. 

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