CENTER P 410 3675691 2201 North Monroe Street F 410367 4246 Baltimore, Maryland 21217 FOR URBAN idenianed FAMILIES HLPNG THER ND LES WORK Congressman Elijah Cummings 2230 Rayburn House Office Building Washington, D.C. 20515 Senator Cory A. Booker 359 Dirksen Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510 September 4, 2015 Dear Congressman Cummings and Senator Booker, | am writing to express my and the Center for Urban Families’ enthusiastic support for the “Fair Chance ‘to Compete for Jobs Act of 2015 (Fair Chance Act).” This Act would help level the playing field in the workplace for people with past criminal convictions. It would prohibit the federal government and federal contractors from requesting criminal history information until the conditional offer stage, with exceptions for positions in law enforcement, national security and classified information, as required by law. The Act would reinforce the bedrock principle ‘that employment decisions should be based on a person’s job qualifications and not their past record. Center for Urban Families (CFUF), is an independent 501(c)3 organization located in Baltimore, MD. ‘Since our founding in 1999, CFUF has remained at the front-line of addressing some of our city’s most pressing issues, including poverty, unemployment, father-absence and family disintegration. Our core mission is to strengthen urban communities by helping fathers and families achieve stability and economic success. ‘We do this through our unique service model, Family Stability and Economic Success (FSES), an integrated and comprehensive approach to addressing the needs of our target population within three focus areas: Economic Success; Family Stability, and Supportive Services ~ all aimed at providing the education, training, tools and resources needed to improve the quality of life of residents living in the neighborhoods and communities we serveMore than 30,000 individuals have sought our services to date, many of whom are now employed, productive citizens passing their skills on to the next generation and moving closer towards greater upward mobility and self-fulfillment. On average 25% of CFUF’s members are on parole or probation, 50% lack stable housing, and 35% report having no employment within the prior 12 months. Nearly all CFUF clients live in high crime, high poverty areas of Baltimore City. Over 50% report a prior history of criminal involvement and/or incarceration. For these individuals in particular, finding a job and getting @ second chance at life is particularly dificult because of a blemished record. For several years now, we've worked with core partners to provide expungement services to our members in an effort to remove charges that pose additional barriers to employment. We've also recently partnered with the Baltimore City State's Attorney office on the “Aim to B’More Program” by providing defendants on probation access to job-readiness training skills and employment opportunities. We believe this bill is extremely timely and would further reinforce national “ban the box” campaign efforts across the country that have already gained traction in 18 states and more than 100 cities, and successfully embraced by companies such as Walmart, Starbucks, Target, Home Depot, amongst others. These efforts would provide our members with criminal backgrounds a meaningful opportunity to interview and be considered based on their merits, while still providing employers the opportunity to learn about their criminal histories before hiring. Passage of this bill would also contribute to successful reintegration and reducing recidivism in our communities. CFUF fully endorses and looks forward to additional collaborations with your offices in support of this crucial Fair Chance Act. Sincerely, Qn Joseph T. Jones, Jr. Founder, President & CEO