INCREASING JOB OPPORTUNITIES FOR RETURNING CITIZENS

Our criminal justice system tends to put all the responsibility for successful reentry on the person with the fewest connections and facing the most barriers to success. My motivation with the first SCT Job Fair back in 2014 was for the coalition of people and agencies supporting SCT to use our collective influence and connections to facilitate employment opportunities for justice-system impacted people. The challenges to successful reentry remain great, and our mission to connect highly motivated job seekers with great job opportunities remains as important as ever.

At Easter, when visiting my daughter Emmi in Pennsylvania, my granddaughter Mizuki got me reading the Dogman book series by Dave Pilkey. I really enjoy this book series, perhaps because bathroom humor is so prominently featured. Mizuki and Emmi sent me a copy of Dogman: Mothering Heights for a Father’s Day gift. The book series keeps the same cast of characters. Dogman has the head of a dog on the body of a policeman. Petey is described as, “Once known as the World’s Most Evilest Cat, Petey is now working on becoming a better version of himself.” On pages 122-124 of Mothering Heights, Petey is explaining to investigative reporter Sarah Hatoff how difficult it has been to avoid being returned to the US Department of Kitty Corrections. As Petey says, he did his time and tried to do good, but people only saw the bad in him – “NOBODY would let me forget who I USED to be.”

For many years SCT has been providing Job Fair Sessions in probation offices and in the community to help job seekers prepare for success at the Job Fair and in the job market. These sessions have always been surprisingly well attended, particularly this year. When I speak at an Orientation session I emphasize three things. First, that getting a good job is important for many reasons other than just money. Second, you must be prepared to explain that you are not the same person today that you were back then. Third, that because finding employment is so challenging for people with a criminal history, you can accurately say that if given the opportunity, you will be the most loyal and hardworking employee on the team.

Job vacancies are negatively impacting many Tucson employers. There will be many talented and eager job applicants at the Tucson Convention Center on August 7 looking to turn their life around. We urgently ask employers who want to offer that opportunity and improve their business at the same time to use the link below to register for the 2025 SCT Job and Resource Fair. And, if you have a juvenile sense of humor like me, I recommend you go buy a Dogman book by Dave Pilkey.

Charles R. Pyle

Executive Director

Second Chance Tucson

Reference: Dav Pilkey, Dog Man: Mothering Heights (Scholastic, 2021)