Philadelphia’s Fair Chance Hiring Initiative hopes to lower recidivism, provide employment for previously incarcerated

Hiring people who have been impacted by the justice system, whether from being incarcerated or put on parole or probation, can change a person’s life, but also reduce the chances of them returning to prison again.

However, “returning citizens” can find it difficult to get a job after being released. To combat recidivism, the Department of Commerce created the Fair Chance Hiring Initiative in 2017, a program that financially incentivizes employers to hire returning citizens and keep them employed for the long term.

Lack of employment plays a key role in people being rearrested or reincarcerated. In Pennsylvania, the recidivism rate has stayed at around 65% for nearly 15 years. In Philadelphia county, one out of every three people released from prison in 2015 was rearrested or incarcerated within a year, with nearly half between the ages of 25 and 40 years old, according to a 2018 Philadelphia Reentry Coalition report.

While reducing recidivism is a lot more complicated than simply getting a job once released from prison — as returning citizens still can face issues around mental health, substance use and complicated family and housing situations — getting a quality job that pays well and supports an individual goes a long way toward success.

According to the Brookings Institute, people are less likely to commit crimes or be reincarcerated when they have stable and secure full-time employment. Conversely, in Pennsylvania, parolees who were unemployed for 12 months after release were 16% more likely to return to prison, according to Pennsylvania Department of Corrections data. There is a benefit to hiring returning citizens too, according to evidence-based research platform IZA World of Labor: they are more likely to stay with a company for longer when given a quality job.

For Philly business owners looking to find new hires, ways to help justice-impacted workers or take part in a workforce incentive program, below is a breakdown of the Fair Chance Hiring Initiative and how to participate.

The Fair Chance Hiring Initiative, operated by the Department of Commerce, connects returning citizens to available jobs in the city and provides employers with financial incentives to help pay their wages and retain employees. The program is available for people who were incarcerated, on parole or on probation in the last seven years.

Any Philadelphia-based company can participate in the Fair Chance Hiring Initiative as long as the company:

There are requirements for both the employer and employee to adhere to within the 90-day grant term, otherwise, both parties won’t be eligible for wage reimbursement or retention bonuses.

Employers must:

Employees must:

To receive the financial incentives of this program, employers and FCHI employees need to adhere to program requirements and retain employment for at least 90 calendar days. That is when the city will release the first set of reimbursements to the employer. Then, if both parties successfully complete the 180-day grant term, then both employers and FCHI employees receive financial incentives. Here’s the breakdown.

The Department of Commerce works with employers to onboard them at a comfortable pace. All employers need to do to begin is email FairChanceHiring@phila.gov. From there, staffers with the commerce department will work around the employer’s schedule to enroll them into the program and get the connected to possible hires. Here’s a breakdown.

For employers:

For employees:

The Philadelphia Inquirer is one of more than 20 news organizations producing Broke in Philly, a collaborative reporting project on solutions to poverty and the city’s push toward economic justice. See all of our reporting at brokeinphilly.org.