Unemployment

Unemployment and underemployment are root causes of poverty.

Although prior to the COVID pandemic our nation’s unemployment rate was at its lowest point in years, less than 4 percent, in some neighborhoods in Marion County the unemployment rate was more than 20 percent. That meant that one out of every five individuals in the labor force in these neighborhoods could not find a job.

Today, the unemployment rate in the Arlington Woods neighborhood remains at 21 percent.

Those who often find the most difficulty in securing a job are ex-offenders trying to re-enter the workforce after returning from incarceration.

Each year 12,000 men and women with felony records are released back into Marion County, Indiana, the center of our community:

Almost 2,900 from Indiana Department of Corrections (IDOC),
Just over 9,000 from Marion County Jail,
And a portion of the more than 500 released into our state from Federal penitentiaries.

In Marion County, too many ex-offenders are unemployed for the first year after they are released. UNITE INDY’s 2018 report, Indy’s Urban Employment Crisis, showed a strong correlation in many neighborhoods between double-digit unemployment, large numbers of returning ex-offenders, and high crime statistics.

2018 Recidivism Report released by IDOC says that 43.9 percent of those who came back to Marion County in 2015 returned to prison within three years of release date. Of those, 41.3 percent committed a new crime, and 58.7 percent were re-incarcerated as a result of a technical rule violation (failure to find and retain a job, to attend parole meetings or substance abuse treatment sessions, to fulfill community service requirements, etc.).

In stark contrast to those statistics, a national study said that the recidivism rates for those who are placed in jobs shortly after their release ranges from 3.3 to 8 percent.

Getting to work has positive effects both physically and mentally. A working re-entrant regains self-esteem, a sense of importance in his or her family, and can provide better nutrition to dependent children, which affects their health and can positively impact their ability to learn in school. Having a job and creating an income stream not only impacts the reentrant, their spouse, and children. Their new job also increases income spent in the community in which they live.

However, in spite of a need to work and a willingness to work, those with a felony conviction on their record too often find few employers willing to hire them.

To aid them in their job search, UNITE INDY has developed SecondChanceIndy.com, the first and only job site that connects those with a record to area employers willing to give a second chance. The site also includes a comprehensive listing of resources needed by those re-entering our community (county parole offices, felony-friendly housing, transportation options, substance abuse treatment programs, financial literacy education, mental health assistance, etc.).

Even when a re-entrant can find an employer willing to offer a second chance, the next formidable obstacle confronting him or her is finding a source of affordable, dependable transportation to get to and from work. Bus lines don’t run everywhere, and even when an employer has a nearby bus stop, if it takes catching multiple buses that travel different routes, it might not be a practical solution for daily travel. Cabs, Ubers, and Lyfts are far too costly for a person starting at or near entry level.

UNITE INDY is collaborating with the business and philanthropic communities to develop solutions to this issue. One such effort is currently moving out of the pilot phase and should be ready for replication soon.

Even when we can connect a reentrant and a second chance employer and the job applicant has transportation, many just aren’t ready to make the transition from incarceration to the workplace. To help them better prepare to enter the workforce, UNITE INDY has become Central Indiana’s Certified Provider of Jobs for Life, a biblically-based job preparation course—taught in 300 cities in nine countries—that teaches students:

You were made to work.
You were created with God given skills and talents to apply to your work.
There is dignity in work.
We worship God through our work.
We serve our family and meet our needs through work.
We love our neighbors through work.

Although the course is built on a Christian foundation, people of any faith or no faith are welcome to participate. We don’t preach to students or attempt to convert them.

In addition to the faith-based teaching (bullet points above), our Jobs for Life students will also be prepared with practical instruction that includes:

Confidence building
Development of a vocational plan
Resume preparation
Creation of a 60 second commercial
Employer expectations
Mock interviews
Interaction with area employers
And more!

Each Jobs for Life student is paired with a mentor, which we call their Champion, who walks alongside the student during the 8-week course, helping him or her to identify and overcome obstacles. Champions make an effort to remain in touch for six months to a year after graduation, and hopefully the duo will form a life long bond.

We’ll do our best to educate area employers about Jobs for Life—the course content, the emphasis on character development, and the high level of participant commitment required to complete the course—in hopes that employers will eventually grant priority consideration to our graduates.

We started with a group of parolees who decided to settle within Marion or one of the surrounding counties. Not only does work help them (and their families) to defeat the curse of poverty, obtaining a good job is also the biggest deterrent to returning to incarceration.

Once visitation limitations are lifted in Indiana prisons, we’ll be taking Jobs for Life behind the walls, and enabling reentrants to access SecondChanceIndy.com when they return to our community. Next, we will be offering to serve unemployed or under employed residents of the communities that surround our urban churches.

Our brothers, sisters, and our community need our help now!

Because unemployment is linked directly to the major problems that plague those living in the urban core of our community, we believe that addressing this root cause of poverty will have a highly positive impact on these issues: