That class changed her.
“I feel so empowered now,” said Dhami, now a junior. “I feel like I’m a part of a community. I feel like what I’m doing matters. I’m changing people’s lives in positive ways.”
Dhami and the rest of her class spent last year researching implementation of Assembly Bill 218 — or “the Ban the Box initiative,” passed in July, 2014, which gives people convicted of a crime more access to public jobs from the city, county and state level.
But her classmates’ research found that the Inland area is not implementing the rule change. Some cities in Riverside and San Bernardino counties didn’t even know the law existed according to Tilton, who led the study.
They will present “report cards” at a town hall meeting, and launch the The IE Fair Chance Coalition today from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at the San Bernardino Diocese, 1201 E. Highland Ave. in San Bernardino. The group is made up of U of R students and faculty and community leaders, including Time for Change Foundation, Riverside All of Us or None, Starting Over Inc., Center for Employment Opportunities, IE Concerned African American Churches, Inland Congregations United for Change, California Partnership and the ACLU of Southern California.
The U of R report that several human resource policies are not written or sufficiently detailed to guarantee fair or consistent evaluation of criminal records in the hiring process. They say application language often discourages people with criminal records from applying and does not clearly state a commitment to fair hiring.
Riverside County received the highest grade, with a B. Lake Elsinore, Fontana, Highland and San Bernardino County all received Ds. The grades measured the existing barriers to fair hiring and provided departments with a roadmap for change.
“Until you work in partnership with the community, they don’t understand substantial problems around them or understand how to actually change policies,” said Tilton. “They feel powerless. Connecting them with community leaders doing the changes they want to see is the first step.”
Junior Raquel Anakalea was one of the students who felt powerless.
“My dad has been in and out of prison my whole life,” said Anakalea. “I’m not close to him because he’s been in and out of my life.”
She was raised by her mom, aunt and grandmother. It was hard on them because he was unable to get employed because of his criminal background. Even now he isn’t able to help her pay for her tuition, books or housing.
“I have issues that most people on this campus just don’t have to face,” said Anakalea. “Jobs, that’s the biggest most obvious way to end the cycle of recidivism.”
Senior Jewel Patterson has lived in San Bernardino County her whole life and has members in her family who are unable to find good public jobs because of their criminal background. She was part of the first class to work on the project. She conducted interviews with people who had served time.
“We got stories from formerly incarcerated people,” said Patterson. “We wanted to put a face on the issue.”
The students spent two years researching HR departments. In addition to the interviews they called HR departments, followed up with elected officials poured through public policy documents and spent hours on phones with lawyers. Each of the women has been subsequently volunteering with nonprofits involved in criminal justice and launching IE Fair Chance Coalition to give a voice to people who have been discriminated against because of their criminal background.
This was Tilton’s goal all along, to connect students to issues affecting the community and get them to be agents of change.
“I wanted them to do some research useful in the community to understand how public policies played out in the Inland Empire,” said Tilton. “I’m so proud of the work they have done. They’re having a tangible positive impact in the community. The work they’re doing is giving HR departments a roadmap to better implement this law.”
Tilton also wanted to change stigmas around people with criminal records.
Dhami’s research focused on the city of San Bernardino. But that’s not the biggest impact the class had. Her older sister has been incarcerated twice. After her sister got out of jail her family treated her differently, and so did Dhami.
“Oh I totally had a stigma and that hurt my relationship with her. I was like, oh yeah she’s a criminal, she wasn’t my big sister anymore. These stigmas hurt people and hurt families. I reconnected with my sister. She saw the work I did on the campaign on Facebook and was proud.
“It’s become so much more than a class. The people who we worked with they had a positive impact on my life too.”
Dhami and the rest of her class spent last year researching implementation of Assembly Bill 218 — or “the Ban the Box initiative,” passed in July, 2014, which gives people convicted of a crime more access to public jobs from the city, county and state level.
But her classmates’ research found that the Inland area is not implementing the rule change. Some cities in Riverside and San Bernardino counties didn’t even know the law existed according to Tilton, who led the study.
They will present “report cards” at a town hall meeting, and launch the The IE Fair Chance Coalition today from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at the San Bernardino Diocese, 1201 E. Highland Ave. in San Bernardino. The group is made up of U of R students and faculty and community leaders, including Time for Change Foundation, Riverside All of Us or None, Starting Over Inc., Center for Employment Opportunities, IE Concerned African American Churches, Inland Congregations United for Change, California Partnership and the ACLU of Southern California.
The U of R report that several human resource policies are not written or sufficiently detailed to guarantee fair or consistent evaluation of criminal records in the hiring process. They say application language often discourages people with criminal records from applying and does not clearly state a commitment to fair hiring.
Riverside County received the highest grade, with a B. Lake Elsinore, Fontana, Highland and San Bernardino County all received Ds. The grades measured the existing barriers to fair hiring and provided departments with a roadmap for change.
“Until you work in partnership with the community, they don’t understand substantial problems around them or understand how to actually change policies,” said Tilton. “They feel powerless. Connecting them with community leaders doing the changes they want to see is the first step.”
Junior Raquel Anakalea was one of the students who felt powerless.
“My dad has been in and out of prison my whole life,” said Anakalea. “I’m not close to him because he’s been in and out of my life.”
She was raised by her mom, aunt and grandmother. It was hard on them because he was unable to get employed because of his criminal background. Even now he isn’t able to help her pay for her tuition, books or housing.
“I have issues that most people on this campus just don’t have to face,” said Anakalea. “Jobs, that’s the biggest most obvious way to end the cycle of recidivism.”
Senior Jewel Patterson has lived in San Bernardino County her whole life and has members in her family who are unable to find good public jobs because of their criminal background. She was part of the first class to work on the project. She conducted interviews with people who had served time.
“We got stories from formerly incarcerated people,” said Patterson. “We wanted to put a face on the issue.”
The students spent two years researching HR departments. In addition to the interviews they called HR departments, followed up with elected officials poured through public policy documents and spent hours on phones with lawyers. Each of the women has been subsequently volunteering with nonprofits involved in criminal justice and launching IE Fair Chance Coalition to give a voice to people who have been discriminated against because of their criminal background.
This was Tilton’s goal all along, to connect students to issues affecting the community and get them to be agents of change.
“I wanted them to do some research useful in the community to understand how public policies played out in the Inland Empire,” said Tilton. “I’m so proud of the work they have done. They’re having a tangible positive impact in the community. The work they’re doing is giving HR departments a roadmap to better implement this law.”
Tilton also wanted to change stigmas around people with criminal records.
Dhami’s research focused on the city of San Bernardino. But that’s not the biggest impact the class had. Her older sister has been incarcerated twice. After her sister got out of jail her family treated her differently, and so did Dhami.
“Oh I totally had a stigma and that hurt my relationship with her. I was like, oh yeah she’s a criminal, she wasn’t my big sister anymore. These stigmas hurt people and hurt families. I reconnected with my sister. She saw the work I did on the campaign on Facebook and was proud.
“It’s become so much more than a class. The people who we worked with they had a positive impact on my life too.”
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