The Promise is investing in strategies to remove barriers to employment. Through the Jobs and Opportunity Challenge, we’re partnering with trusted community organizations to expand outreach, run record clearing clinics, and leverage key learnings.
The legal services organizations facilitating the clinics include Community Legal Services (CLS), Defender Association and Philadelphia Lawyers for Social Equity (PLSE).
Image Credits: Mansfield Media/The Elevation Project
Community Event Partners
ACANA
Beyond Literacy
CEIBA
Compassion CDC
Community College of Philadelphia Foundation
Eastern North Philadelphia Workforce Development Corp
EMIR
Institute for Community Justice
JEVS
New Kensington CDC
NOMO Foundation
Philadelphia Bail Fund
Revolutionary Vision
Southwest CDC
The Elevation Project
The Reawakening Agency
Uplift Solutions
Urban League of Philadelphia
First Step Staffing
Unity in the Community
Philly Black Worker Project
Why this matters
Record Clearing is important to the workforce. Incarceration is shown to limit opportunity and depress hourly wages by approximately 11% and annual earnings by 40%.
For more than 300,000 Philadelphians with a conviction, their record is preventing their ability to provide for themselves and their families. Studies have shown that within one year of a person getting their record sealed, their wages go up by over 22% primarily from new employment opportunities. Source: Economy League of Greater Philadelphia, 2011
A conviction should not be a life sentence to poverty.
The Promise is investing in strategies to remove barriers to employment.
300K+
Philadelphians have an arrest and conviction record
91%
of people returning from prison come back to low-income neighborhood
Source: PLSE Quick Facts: Criminal Records in Pennsylvania
3
Legal Services Organizations selected
Each receiving a grant between $200K to $400K
21
Community-Based Organizations selected to date
Each receiving an annual grant between $35K to $55K
