Getting a job if you have a criminal record — for people who have been incarcerated, are on parole or probation, or recently released from judicial oversight — can be like trying to remount a skittish, bucking horse.
Sometimes you make it through the application process with an offer for a position, say clients at the Center for Employment Opportunities. But when a background check shows a felony conviction, it’s usually back to the stirrups to start over.
The social enterprise organization operates in 12 states and 30 cities, including Colorado Springs, where it will hire 187 to 200 people this year who are reintegrating into society.
“It’s difficult having an employer stick with you — HR is like, ‘Um, you have some things on your record,’” said Greg Schultz, who was incarcerated at age 19 several years ago and now is on probation.
He said he loves that the Center for Employment Opportunities helps people overcome their past by concentrating on the present and planning for the future.
“It gives people with records an opportunity to get back in the workforce and build skills and move through the transition,” Schultz said.
The program is the only one of its kind in southern Colorado and functions as a steppingstone to helping people gain steady employment and become self-sufficient, said Eric Abraham, program manager for the Colorado Springs office.
This year’s goal is to place 110 clients locally, more than a half of the caseload, in full-time, permanent jobs, he said.
There’s such a need for the services the nonprofit organization provides that the waiting list to get in is more than 300 people deep.
Maddi Grant, who said she encountered a “wrong time, wrong place” situation, did her time, lived in a halfway house in 2022, exited parole last year and has been with Colorado Employment Opportunities for about six weeks.
“My charge looks bad,” she said. “I wasn’t getting job offers because of my background, which happens a lot.”
Grant, 29, worked as a security officer before she landed in prison. Now, she’s finishing the first year of training to become an electrician and has her eye on an apprenticeship.
The daily paycheck she receives — usually minimum wage, but the pay can vary from contract to contract — covers her bills and keeps her focused on entering her preferred career field.
“This program has just been awesome. They help with clothing, job readiness, applications, school, OSHA training, CDL (commercial driver’s license) training. They answer any questions and help you build a stable life and get a second chance,” Grant said.
“We all have different baggage, and they treat us like human beings. We don’t get treated like human beings a lot. We have that stigmatization as people with felonies.”
Abraham said employees — many of whom had been in the program —don’t judge anyone by their convictions or their history.
“We don’t discriminate against any offenses — we get people with anything from minor offenses to things some people wouldn’t take on,” Abraham said. “There’s thousands of people that get released from incarceration daily that won’t get hired. A lot are being overlooked.”
Participants are referred by a halfway house, sober-living facility, parole or probation officer, or existing clients.
The voluntary program accepts adults only for an initial term of 75 days. But participants can return for “redevelopment,” if the full-time job they secure doesn’t pan out. They also can be on retention status with the organization for a year.
Up to 30 crew members at any given time work four days a week and spend one day a week in job coaching and development. There’s also assistance with mental health problems and connections to necessities such as food and housing.
“We work through the barriers,” Abraham said.
The organization supplies all tools, equipment, proper clothing including boots, gloves and vests, cell phones, hardhats, porta potties at job sites and workers’ compensation coverage.
Assignments include litter abatement along highways in conjunction with the Colorado Department of Transportation and of illegal homeless camps in partnership with local jurisdictions. There’s also landscaping, janitorial, construction projects, CDL driving and other tasks.
It can be a hard sell to convince employers to use the organization’s clients for projects, Abraham said, but interest is high enough to keep the work flowing.
The manual labor can be tough, members of a cleanup crew said last week, while they finished extracting piles of trash from a hard-to-reach homeless encampment under I-25 north of the Woodmen Road exit in El Paso County.
The site had been turned into a facsimile of an apartment complex, with separate tented units wedged between lofty rafters that shudder with a steady flow of high-speed traffic above. A wooden structure also had been built at the site.
Workers from the Center for Employment Opportunities said they removed 60 shopping carts, close to 100 tires and even a printer. “Who would have thought,” one muttered.
The El Paso County Sheriff’s Office has the answer. “Deputies found evidence those occupying the encampment were illegally tapping into I-25 light poles for electricity to power televisions, lighting and stereo equipment,” Sgt. Kurt Smith said.
Mattresses, bike frames, “a significant amount of drug paraphernalia” and several tons of debris awaited what the sheriff’s office called “a restoration” of the area.
For three days last week, the 23-member team from the Center for Employment Opportunities picked up, bagged and trudged refuse up steep embankments on either side of Pine Creek.
But it’s better than being locked up, they said.
Ronald Mathis just got out of incarceration in March for the second time and has been back with the Center for Employment Opportunities since then. He also used the program in 2020 and had found a job as a machinist before returning to prison on a six-year sentence.
“I have a past, and my past doesn’t define me,” he said. “I had to make a mental change — you have to want to succeed.”
Mathis is seeking CDL certification, and while the schooling is expensive, the organization will reimburse him for educational costs.
“You can tell the staff really want you to succeed,” he said. “They’re passionate about guiding you on a good path.”
Alex Murriel, 33, was a client who mostly picked up trash along highways, after doing two weeks in county jail during the pandemic and receiving a lengthy probation that recently ended.
For the past nine months, he’s been a site supervisor and also manages a sober-living house in town.
“Every day I wake up willing and wanting to go to work,” Murriel said. “It’s a big change, but no matter what job you do, you’re either gonna do a good job or a bad job at it. It’s your choice.”
Clients learn hard and soft skills, such as safety, productivity, conduct and dress, he said.
Along with “get insoles for the boots, they’re uncomfortable” and “bring a water bottle,” Murriel’s main advice for clients is: “If you come and show up and show out, this program will work for you all the time.”
Schultz, the newbie on the crew, aspires to be a general manager of a sports team, but in the meantime, he’s looking for “anything that keeps me productive.” Another intention for his life: “I want to make a difference.”