The first national conference of the Formerly Incarcerated, Convicted People and Families Movement is this coming week, September 9th and 10th at the Hilton- Oakland Airport.
Take a look at the short form schedule Here.
View the full program and panelists Here.
UPDATE: We apologize that the conference has reached capacity and registration is now closed.
At a time when 100 million Americans are trying to move on from their criminal records, hundreds (and possibly thousands) of people will gather in Oakland, California to address their common struggle with an oppressive criminal justice system. The Formerly Incarcerated, Convicted People and Families Movement (FICPFM) is made up of the directly impacted families and communities confronting a system of control; a system that has, itself, grown out of control. This two day conference (Sept. 9-10) is the latest of many historical markers in the Civil Rights movement, and represents the courageous individual and collective journeys among every organizer and participant.
The FICPFM is a natural result of mass incarceration, as thousands of people annually enter a criminal justice system that is used as our national program to address substance use, addiction, mental illness, unemployment, conflict resolution, and homelessness. Mass incarceration is a program overwhelming reserved for people from low-income communities, overwhelmingly imposed upon Communities of Color. It is interwoven with our school systems, and provides cradle-to-grave interaction that people of wealth and/or connections can opt out of. After decades of skimming people from our communities, of people returning to those same communities, our efforts to reclaim our lives and seek healthier options for our children, have led to our own national gatherings.
People can register for the conference by clicking this link here. The FICPFM organizers have been raising funds for travel support, for directly impacted people all over the nation to get help attending, and the registration allows for people to request funding (Click Here). With commitments from roughly two dozen states so far, priority will be given for organizational representatives, and the goal of having someone from all 50 states in Oakland.
The first FICPFM gathering came five years ago, in Selma, Alabama. We walked backwards over the Edmund Pettis Bridge to mark a restoration of the historic Civil Rights Movement, a movement that lost its way under the rhetoric of drugs and crime that invested heavily into a gulag of cages to theoretically make community problems go away. Yet the War on America known as the “War on Drugs” most effective result was to destabilize and weaken the same communities that were previously organizing for political power, justice, and equality.
In Watts, California, the FICPFM ratified a 14-Point Platform. Since that time, we have continued to progress through individuals, organizations, and collaborations. In 2016, we see an American culture that has had enough of mass incarceration. These voices come from both political parties and from no party. This frustration is present in rural White America as well as concentrated urban communities of Color. Ultimately, a small group of insulated people have been providing “solutions” for us that they would never provide for their own families. And although 6 million of us can not vote, many millions more can. Our families, friends and allies combine with us for the largest single-issue population in America. An issue that these politicians will strain, yet again, to ignore this election season.
The conference will include workshops and strategy sessions with highly acclaimed advocates from all parts of America. Several special guests are scheduled to attend, so check back on the conference page for updated information as the schedule is modified.
People seeking more information are encouraged to contact the FICPFM here.
During the holiday season when big box stores rake in the profits as Santa’s middle man, Best Buy has climbed atop the Grinch’s mountain and potentially seizing the title from traditional villains Walmart and Target. It remains to be seen if Best Buy’s discriminatory employment practices hit them where it hurts in the short run, but they will likely learn (as Target did) they are on the wrong side of history to discriminate against the 80 million Americans with criminal histories.
After Best Buy’s corporate offices discovered that Thomas Herndon, their Farmington, New Mexico store’s general manager, had hired a man with a bank robbery conviction: they fired him. The general manager. Despite the fact that Herndon subjected the prospective employee to a background check, drug test, and heard agreement from other employees, the corporate managers felt this was a “questionable hiring decision, without partnering with appropriate leadership, that could have put the company at risk.” Best Buy has no policy mandating their general managers partner with “appropriate leadership” (whoever that may be), and apparently does not trust someone who they have hired in a managerial role.
Best Buy may be violating the EEOC Guidelines of 2012
The lawyers among us can bicker about what sort of claims Herndon may or may not have, but the court of public opinion sways market forces more than judges ever have. In this case, Herndon sued for a retaliatory firing and argued that employers have an obligation not to discriminate under New Mexico state law. The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals (and the lower federal court) disagreed however, and ruled that the law only applies to state employment. This is a prime example of why “Ban the Box” laws need to extend out to all workplaces.
Ban the Box is a movement started by All of Us or None over a decade ago in California’s Bay Area, demanding that people not be asked to “check the box” if convicted of a crime. Through networks of directly impacted people, this argument against blanket bans has gone viral. Although over 100 jurisdictions have banned the box in some form or another, only Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, Oregon, and Rhode Island have extended it to private employers. [Last I checked, none of these states have fallen off the map.]
The national network pushing for Ban the Box (and other reforms) has merged into the Formerly Incarcerated, Convicted People and Families Movement (FICPFM). Through a recent partnership with John Legend and Color of Change, FICPFM put 130,000 petition signatures on President Obama’s desk. A week later he announced an executive order to ensure a least discriminatory hiring process for federal job applications. To be clear, a decent process won’t end all discrimination in people’s hearts and does not guarantee a single job. What it does is allow an applicant to get a fair shot in an interview, perhaps at Best Buy. It gives him a chance to explain him or herself to a general manager, perhaps in Farmington, New Mexico. It allows someone a chance to start earning a paycheck and build up a life after serving their time in a cage.
Anti-Discrimination needs enforcement, not tolerance
President Obama needs to go a step further and require all government contractors to submit their hiring policies for Ban the Box review. Those with discriminatory policies, or reported discriminatory practices, will not get the contract. Any Congressional action, such as The Fair Chance Act (H.R. 3470 / S. 2021), needs to follow a similar route. Furthermore, Congress clearly must address injustices such as the one committed by Best Buy, who feel they can judge an employment application without ever meeting the applicant- this is precisely the reason hundreds of thousands of people have mobilized over the years to democratically call for changes.
Best Buy might be wise enough to learn from Target, who had blanket hiring bans against people with criminal convictions, despite also exploiting the labor of incarcerated people in Minnesota. When grassroots people, led by Take Action Minnesota and others, filled the streets and filed litigation, the corporation reformed their ways. Ironically, Best Buy’s corporate headquarters is one town over from Target, in Richfield, Minnesota.
As a member of FICPFM, grassroots author of the Rhode Island Ban the Box law, and father of a girl who has been wanting the “Descendants” movie on DVD: I certainly won’t be buying it from the Grinch who steals jobs from people who believe in rehabilitation, reentry and one interconnected community.
Members of the Formerly Incarcerated, Convicted People & Families Movement gathered in Washington, D.C. to review and strategize around Congress’ proposed legislation to “Ban the Box” on federal jobs. FICPFM leaders met with key staffers for the bill sponsors and in the White House, relaying their expertise and analysis on employment discrimination against people with criminal records. Among the directly impacted leaders were attorneys, policy experts, and the people who coined the very phrase, “Ban the Box.”
An official statement regarding the “Fair Chance Act” legislation and call for an Executive Order is forthcoming. Stay tuned.
Read more about Ban the Box on our page, here.
Our Ban the Box campaign calls for removing the question and check box, “Have you been convicted by a court?” from applications for employment, housing, public benefits, insurance, loans and other services. These questions mean lifelong discrimination and exclusion because of a past arrest or conviction record.
All of Us or None is recognized nationwide as the originator and the core of a Ban the Box movement that is sweeping the country. As of August 2015, over 100 cities or counties, and 18 states have removed questions about conviction history from their public employment applications – over 100 million people across the country live in a jurisdiction where the box has been banned in some form or another. Check out our Ban the Box historical timeline to see how we and our allies have developed this movement.
Campaigns to Ban the Box around the U.S. have been started by a wide variety of people: formerly-incarcerated people, neighborhood legal services agencies, City Council members, Mayors, other elected officials. For any of our campaigns to win, it’s crucial that we build broad coalitions that recognize the grassroots voice of people who have been directly affected by this discrimination. The short video Enough is Enough also describes the campaign.
To start a campaign in your area, check out our Ban the Box Campaign Toolkit. Contact Jesse Stout, jesse@prisonerswithchildren.org or banthebox@prisonerswithchildren.org (or 415-625-7049) for a hard copy of our Ban the Box Organizers’ Toolkit and more information.
Our national Ban the Box campaign asks President Obama to issue an executive order and presidential memorandum to Ban the Box for private contractors doing business with the federal government. Federal contractors oversee around 30 million jobs; many are paid for with our tax dollars. By issuing an executive order to Ban the Box, President Obama could provide hundreds of thousandsof people the “decent shot” he says they deserve. Please consider downloading and printing our petition and gather signatures in your area.
To get involved with our executive order Ban the Box campaign, contact Dorsey Nunn at dorsey@prisonerswithchildren.org.
All of Us or None and LSPC co-sponsored AB 218 in 2013, California legislation that implemented Ban the Box policies for public employment statewide. (See the AB 218 Implementation Guide, created by AOUON and National Employment Law Project.)
In 2014 we helped pass the San Francisco Fair Chance Act – legislation that has expanded local access to housing and jobs for people with conviction records. This model legislation sets standards for how and when employers and housing providers may consider conviction records.
Several cities and counties who have adopted Ban the Box also require that their vendors adopt the same hiring practices as for public employment, which further increases job opportunities.
Nationally, we are promoting the Fair Chance Pledge: banning the box at nonprofits and foundations. If you think your workplace might want to take the pledge, please visit http://www.bantheboxcampaign.org
It is not easy to be a strong, intelligent, bold Black man in this country. Put a criminal record on him and mainstream America puts him in a box. Yet, allow the same man to pursue his education, develop himself and recognize his true value, and then you can watch this man serve as a leader in his community. That is who Daryl Atkinson is: a leader.
Daryl’s recent speech at the White House, upon accepting a “Champion of Change” award, assessed the discrimination against convicted people in very plain terms. He calls out for traditional leaders to embrace the insights and leadership of formerly incarcerated and convicted people. The FICPM is blessed to have Daryl Atkinson as a leader among us, as his brilliant analysis continues to be strong, intelligent, and bold.
Watch and hear his remarks by clicking this link.
Members of the Formerly Incarcerated & Convicted People’s Movement have led the fight to end (or at least slow down) employment discrimination. California has recently joined the ranks of states that will wait until they have offered before asking “Have you ever been convicted of a felony?” This new law only applies to state and local governments, but private employers such as Target have voluntarily changed their application procedure after the threat of a lawsuit upon their corporate headquarters in Minnesota.
On July 1st, Los Angeles is poised to become the largest city in America to switch to this more inclusive policy. “Los Angeles is the city of second chances,” the Mayor Eric Garcetti said. “Somebody might have been arrested for prostitution, they might have been trafficked into it. They might be arrested for drug trade or gotten involved in gangs because they had no parents around. If we’re a city that’s going to be truly compassionate, and most importantly, that’s going to move the entire economy forward, we can’t leave these folks behind.”
Although conducting background checks further along in the process (rather than on the initial application) does not ensure discrimination will not occur, it does force an employer to consider a criminal history in light of the fact that someone is right for the job. The employer can then decide if their past action is somehow related to the job at hand, and/or recent enough to cause concern. Furthermore, the prospective employees may explain about how their lives have changed, or the circumstances of what might be simply one tragic or unlucky day.
Those wishing to get more information, or involved with expanding this policy to all employers in the state of California, should contact All of Us or None, Legal Services for Prisoners With Children, or A New Way of Life.
For more, read:
http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2014/06/06/move-to-delay-background-checks-stirs-controversy/
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-ban-the-box-20140606-story.html
L to R: Tina Reynolds, Dorsey Nunn, Bruce Reilly, Daryl Atkinson, Steven Huerta, Khalid Raheem, Susan Burton, Pastor Kenny Glasgow, Yusef Shakur
At the forefront of leadership in the struggle to end the US system of mass incarceration stands the Formerly Incarcerated and Convicted People’s Movement (FICPM), a nationwide coalition of formerly incarcerated men and women who are holding forth a radical vision for justice and transformation, and who are putting that vision to work in towns and cities across the nation.
This 29-minute radio documentary highlights the voices of nine members of the FICPM steering committee, men and women who have experienced the workings of the US criminal justice system from the inside out, and who have dedicated themselves to the work of building a new and better future, not only for presently and formerly incarcerated people, but for the entire nation.
The knowledge gathered represents just part of the FICPM, learned over the course of a collective century of incarceration, over a dozen college degrees, and several books in print. Members are leading organizations, drafting new legislation, and releasing cutting-edge research.
Following up on the FICPM report, “Communities, Evictions, and Criminal Convictions,” here you will find the model policy boiled down to one document. Advocates interested in amending their local policies should do so in partnership with the impacted residents in their communities.
Click the link below to download:
Model PHA Policy re Criminal Convictions
This report represents more than just a legal analysis about the struggles in low-income communities. For many of us, this is about our homes. This is about where we try to cook our meals, relax, and raise our families. The stakes are high, inciting passion. Yet we do not let this passion blind us; instead, we use it to motivate ourselves. We encourage everyone, regardless of background or circumstance, to join us in taking action upon a most critical issue.
We are fortunate to have strong individuals and organizations working towards change in New Orleans. The city is “ground zero” for incarceration, and a true tragedy considering the rich history and difficult geographic location at the mouth of the Mississippi. What we have created is a national model, drawing from the expertise on the ground and in the legal community, to help our people step up and out of the carnage created by two generations of the “War on Drugs.”
The FICPM looks forward to building partnerships with people working on this and other issues across the nation.
Sincerely,
Dorsey Nunn
Formerly Incarcerated & Convicted People’s Movement
DOWNLOAD THE REPORT HERE:
Communities, Evictions, & Criminal Convictions
This report is broken into five primary pieces, along with an Introduction and conclusion.
Section I: Introduction provides a starting point on the topic of public housing and criminal conviction policies, rooting this issue in one particular city. New Orleans tangles with the most intense incarceration in America, and thus the world. Seemingly innocent programs related to criminal convictions, can take on a primary role in a city such as New Orleans, where one in seven Black men is either in prison, on parole or probation.
To fully grasp the community impact of affordable housing barriers in this sphere, one must account for arrest, incarceration, and poverty rates. Particular to civil rights law, one should factor in the proportionality between recognized ethnic and language groups. It is no mystery that in New Orleans, policies that affect people impacted by the criminal justice system (both individuals and families) are disproportionately affecting people of Color- especially African-Americans. The contrasting affect is most glaring when comparing the drug enforcement policies of densely populated, overwhelmingly White, college students. The excuse of “experimentation” has been reserved for a certain segment of young drug users.
Public housing exclusion standards apply to entire families, thus the impact is far broader than the tens of thousands who are formerly convicted, whether incarcerated or not. Statistics typically fail to account for those who are no longer serving a punishment, yet they too have a criminal history that impacts their ability to obtain housing or employment. Hurricane Katrina exasperated the dilemma of a public housing shortage, and rebuilding efforts have intentionally been below previous capacity. There are now over 27,000 households on the waiting list for affordable housing, putting pressure on other services to deal with homelessness.
In Section II, this report provides a brief overview on housing and policing policies within the context of The War on Drugs. The primary method of encouraging “drug free” behavior has been punishment, while the primary mode of enforcement has been to focus on densely populated low-income communities of Color. The exclusions and evictions from public housing has been accelerated along with the escalation of the War on Drugs. Accordingly, it may make sense for a recession of the punitive policies to span all fronts as widespread de-escalation is afoot in response to the growing sentiment that the War on Drugs has been a failure.
The goal of Forced Sobriety has justified highly-policed communities and a massive construction boom (and employment growth) associated with prison expansion. The Department of Justice estimates that nearly 7% of all people born after 2001 will serve time in state or federal prison; this is on top of the 65 million people who currently have been convicted of a crime. If current rates continue, about 1 in 17 White men, 1 in 6 Hispanic men, and 1 in 3 African American men are expected to serve prison time in their lifetime. It is difficult to imagine anyone in the public sphere being satisfied with these statistics.
The history of public housing, and HUD, includes an acknowledged discrimination over time. The 1.1 million remaining public housing units, and 2.2 million households assisted by vouchers, must be implemented in a manner consistent with HUD’s mission to support community development. HUD has long been a partner with local policing efforts. This partnership deserves scrutiny in the same manner as the police, as overly aggressive tactics have become (in some opinions) more destructive than the harms they purport to reduce.
Section III looks at how government actors are evolving on criminal justice, and new policies are competing with the “Tough on Crime” reactionary rhetoric. The National Reentry Council is an interagency approach to confront the effects of mass incarceration. The most active agency among them, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, has been dealing with employment issues for decades, and the agency’s 2012 policy change regarding the use of criminal records in hiring is a major breakthrough.
The EEOC provided one of the most significant advances in recent Civil Rights law, and they make specific findings regarding national data. Specifically, the EEOC finds that the criminal justice system disproportionately impacts Black and Latino people in America. This is significant when assessing a neutral policy under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1965, and any blanket policy using criminal history alone to exclude people will run afoul of Title VII. The EEOC provides a framework to guide policies in both the public and private sector. Courts have held that the various Civil Rights statutes are intended to work as a unified framework, thus developments in employment law can be persuasive regarding similar issues in housing law.
Section IV lays out the complex web of laws that serve as Congressional guidance to local public housing authorities (PHA), regarding the exclusions and evictions from subsidized programs. Ultimately, HUD allows broad discretion to the local PHA. By comparing policies to the HUD requirements, and comparing them to each other, it is clear that overly restrictive, and extremely vague, policies are guiding decisions that have a far-reaching affect on community housing. When HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan put out a clear statement, that only two types of crimes are barred from HUD, few local agencies took any action.
Only people convicted of sex offenses, and on a Registry for life, along with those who manufactured methamphetamines on federal property, are barred from public housing. Congress makes particular exclusions optional beyond that, generally related to drug use. If someone was previously evicted for a drug related crime, they are faced with a three-year ban unless the offending family member is in prison, dead, or completed a drug rehabilitation program. However, community members around the country have been dealing with policies that don’t provide for those nuances.
A model admission and eviction policy is included. This policy is currently being used as a starting point for changes in New Orleans, and has gotten past a public hearing stage. It addresses the need for the PHA to be part of a system where mentally ill and addicted people are directed towards help rather than prisons and homelessness. The phrase “Reasonable Time” is reasonably defined, eliminating the extreme lengths of time people are facing around the country before eligibility for affordable housing. The Housing Authority of New Orleans is currently working to develop and finalize a policy in accordance with these principals.
Section V is a detailed assessment of housing discrimination under federal law. It also includes a proposed change (as of this writing) of HUD’s policy, by finally providing a federal code regarding disparate impact in housing. Disparate impact is when a neutral policy becomes discriminatory- such as using drug convictions to exclude people from public housing. Whereas studies indicate drug use is similar across all identified races, the chosen policing patterns result in an overwhelming percentage of drug convictions concentrated in Black and Latino communities. All additional penalties attached, based on those convictions, will disproportionately impact Black and Latino people. Thus, “Disparate Impact.”
Courts have long transferred disparate impact theory between employment and housing, but at times differed on the proper standards and process. It is important for advocates to gain a full understanding of disparate impact theory. This is likely to serve as a legal framework for pushing back against a myriad of criminal justice policies that have resulted in the systemic loss of economic and political power among Black and Latino communities.
The EEOC has found four key factors so that employers may design an acceptable “targeted screen,” rather than a blanket policy subject to civil rights lawsuits. These factors are (1) Nature of the crime; (2) Time elapsed; (3) Nature of the job; and (4) Individual assessment. Housing providers, particularly where there is a documented shortage of affordable housing (i.e. New Orleans), should develop a similar screen suitable to residential life.
Section VI focuses on the key elements to make a legal case for dispirate impact in the courts. Those who are not interested in litigating a claim will nonetheless want to appropriate some of the standards and justifications that the courts have developed as consistent with the constitution. One complication in presenting “impact” data is that many people with criminal records (and their families) do not apply for public housing. Most people have “heard” you can’t get in with a felony, to some degree of accuracy or another. Even if they were fully knowledgeable about the waiting periods, it is impossible to know how many are foreclosed because they would need to not know the policy, apply anyway, and be denied. Thus, data of this sort may require a study of the potential (rather than actual) applicants who are deemed ineligible solely due to criminal convictions. If Black residents have a rate below 80% of the White residents’ rate, it is likely to be deemed sufficiently “disparate.”
Under disparate impact litigation, housing providers would need to present the court with their substantial, legitimate, nondiscriminatory interests being served by the exclusion policies. Furthermore, they will be tasked to show that the exclusions actually serve the goal: Resident safety. This cannot merely be speculation. Finally, reformers can still prove victorious by showing that the interests (i.e. resident safety) can be achieved in a less discriminatory manner. PHA’s who understand this civil rights litigation framework are more likely to recognize that a court may ultimately order them to a negotiating position exactly like the one being offered at the outset. Delaying the adoption of a new policy by requiring the court order is the least cost-efficient way forward.
This report recognizes that there is a movement to repeal Civil Rights protections for people of Color in America. Although Justice Antonin Scalia famously referred to the protection of voting rights as “just another racial entitlement,” the sentiments of state and federal policymakers suggest that Civil Rights are not going to be eroded. Racial disproportion is one manner of addressing the problems of discrimination, and is the primary path outlined in this report. As criminal records impact a larger swath of America, however, new legal arguments will emerge regarding the rationale to continue, or repeal, this framework that supports two separate citizenships.
The Appendix provides the complete proposed policy for the Housing Authority of New Orleans, and a nationwide sample snapshot of six other cities.
DOWNLOAD THE REPORT HERE:
Communities, Evictions, & Criminal Convictions
Formerly Incarcerated, Convicted People & Families Movement 