Formerly Convicted Citizens Project has achieved its first milestone accomplishment. Pittsburgh City Council voted unanimously on December 18th, 2012 to pass “Ban the Box’ legislation for city job applications.  Pittsburgh has become one of 48 municipalities across the nation to pass some form of “Ban the Box” legislation, which removes the criminal history question from job applications.  In Pittsburgh, all 9 members of City Council have approved two separate ordinances which mandate that the question about criminal history be removed from applications for employment at all city agencies and agencies contracted by the city, with the exception of safety sensitive positions such as the police force and public educators.  These agencies are now in compliance with the bills implemented in early January of 2013.  FCCP is currently working toward contractor compliance, which is expected to be achieved soon.

The next step for us is to work on “Ban the Box” at the county level. Ultimately, the goal is to have “Ban the Box” legislation at the state level, for ALL job applications.

We’ve added an Employer Fact Sheet; What Employers Should Know!

You can see it on our website (click here) or you can get a PDF version (click here) to print and share.

   Formerly Convicted Citizens Project was invited to testify before City Council this week about the need for strong legislation to open doors to employment for individuals with convictions.

FCCP Director Dean Williams was joined at the table by representatives from MonValley Initiative, Black Political Empowerment Project, Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh, Pink Coat Communication , Alliance for Police Accountability, and the Human Relations Commission of the City of Pittsburgh.  We were joined at the table by Counci lmembers Burgess and Peduto and heard from other members that they watched it from their offices.

WPXI, The Tribune Review, the Post Gazette, Essential Public Radio, the City Paper, and WPXI attended a pre hearing press conference.

Courier photo by J.L. Martello

We are on the front page of the October 5th issue of the New Pittsburgh Courier!

Check out the article by Rebecca Nuttal

Ex-offenders jobs bill gains support

For the past several months, the Formerly Convicted Citizens Project has been working to gain support for legislation that would remove questions of criminal convictions on job applications. The group’s most recent stop of their “Move the Box” campaign trail was to a Public Safety Council meeting at the zone 3 police station.

“I’m working closely with city council to bring new legislation to the city. I’m advocating for people, like myself, who have turned their lives around,” said Dean Williams, FCCP director. “I have been asked by city council to go around to their constituents to educate them about this legislation.”

Read more>>>

You asked for it, you got it. The FCCP Ban the Box petition is now online!

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/bantheboxpgh/

After you sign it, make sure to share with friend and family through email, word of mouth and social media!