Keystone Today

Last week, First Lady Frances Wolf participated in the Manufacturer’s Association for the York County Reentry Employer Roundtable, where she discussed the importance of second-chance hiring and the Wolf administration’s work to support citizens returning to work after being incarcerated.

Wolf met with representatives of the York County Economic Alliance, the Bloom Empowerment Center, the York County Reentry Coalition, business and nonprofits, criminal justice advocates and more, according to Gov. Tom Wolf's website. She also held a virtual reentry roundtable series called Women in Reentry in early 2022.

Gov. Tom Wolf’s (R-PA) proposed 2022 budget includes $1 million in funds for reentry services for women, in an effort to reduce recidivism. The Pennsylvania Department of Corrections reported that 2,000 women are in the Pennsylvania State Corrections Institutions, and 67% are serving sentences of five years or less.

“Many reentrants struggle to find steady jobs that pay a living wage, and this is particularly crucial for women, given that a majority of them are mothers,” Frances Wolf said, according to the governor's website. “We must work together to help these women reestablish this critical piece of their lives during reentry. I applaud the employers in attendance today for their dedication to this important work and for recognizing the value of our reentrant community.”

Securing employment with sustainable wages is especially vital for women, since 70% that are incarcerated are mothers and some are heads of the households, reported the governor's website.

According to a Prison Policy Institute report from 2018, 27% of people who were formerly incarcerated are unemployed. Black and Hispanic women in this situation have a nearly 40% unemployment rate, showing how race and gender tie in. The report said 23% of formerly incarcerated white women are unemployed. 

The governor has been focused on addressing hiring challenges for Pennsylvania residents reentering the workplace. He has created a “fair chance hiring policy” that removes the criminal conviction question from non-civil service employment applications for agencies that are under his jurisdiction. He has also updated professional licensing criteria and enacted the Clean Slate Law, which seals low-level criminal records and is the first of its kind in the U.S.

“An objective of the York County Economic Action Plan is to provide the opportunity of second-chance hiring to improve economic mobility of individuals and families impacted by prior records,” President and CEO of York County Economic Alliance Kevin Schreiber said, according to the governor's website. “Offering resources, such as a pipeline for skills training, provides employers with a greater applicant pool and aids in lowering recidivism rates.”