New Report: Employing the Formerly Incarcerated in the Green Economy

Posted by on August 27, 2010

Report On: Employing the Formerly Incarcerated in the Green Economy

In 2009, the Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP), under the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) will receive $5 billion from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).  This will facilitate the weatherization of one million low-income family homes; consequently “marking a tremendous increase from $227.2 and $250 million for WAP in FY’s 2008 and 2009, respectively.”  There will be an estimated 87,000 jobs that will be created thought the WAP.  This will benefit those with criminal records since they are the “most difficult to employ.”

The Ella Baker Center for Human Rights and PolicyLink assisted the National Employment Law Project in writing this paper in order to provide adequate information to “enable efficient and equitable hiring using WAP funds.”  “This paper fills an important void by clearly explaining the laws regulating who can access these jobs, particularly as it pertains to people with criminal records, a population that faces significant barriers to securing employment.”

Click here to read the complete paper.

http://library.constantcontact.com/doc207/1101408959247/doc/JDqvZ6SJne3NklsL.pdf