Finding jobs

By Published by The Editorial Board

Published: June 9, 2008

Elder Larry Campbell may be best known these days for winning a seat on Danville City Council. Campbell won an impressive 3,667 votes last month in his first run for political office.

But Campbell also has worked on a problem that has long frustrated society — how to keep ex-convicts from committing new crimes. Campbell’s solution is to help those who have been released from prison find a job.

We couldn’t agree more.

While the state has developed a new tool to tackle the problem of prisoner recidivism, Campbell has worked on this problem through a program that quickly lost its funding, but not its direction.

Late last year, the Workforce Initiative Network had eight months of grant funding and a clear mission. But within two months, the money was yanked as state agencies tightened their belts.

“Since then, we have not closed,” Campbell said. “We have expanded.”

Campbell saw the problems faced by ex-convicts during an employment summit held at his church. The regional economic development partnership has created more than 7,000 new jobs over the past four years. The Dan River Region is home to approximately 4,000 unemployed people.

By those numbers, it looked like the entire community would have a chance to get one of those new jobs.

But some of the local jobless have had trouble because companies won’t hire people who have been convicted of felonies and misdemeanors. Others make ex-convicts wait several years after their release before applying for a job.

“There are some that are easier to work with,” he said. “It depends on what company it is.”

How many people need help finding a job because of their criminal record? The Danville Probation & Parole Office currently supervises approximately 1,100 city and county residents. That number doesn’t include people who have completed probation or parole but still have a criminal record.

To help them, Campbell has worked with companies that will hire ex-cons. He has started a building trades program and is planning a computer repair program. He eventually hopes to create companies staffed by ex-convicts. In the future, those companies may locate in downtown Danville, tackling two distinct but tough problems at once.

Some of the people in Campbell’s program, which has been renamed, “Wisdom in Networking,” have taken part in food and clothing programs at the church.

“I can do both,” he said. “I can give you a fish and I can teach you to fish.”

But Campbell saw two different issues — people who were struggling to overcome their past and the job wave cresting on this community — and has worked to find jobs for people that many employers say they don’t want. Without money, Wisdom in Networking has struggled but is well on its way to reaching its goals.

Our community needs all of its citizens to be productive, and it needs to offer companies the workers they need to be successful.

That’s why one of the work force development issues facing our community is finding a way to put felons to work in our growing local economy.