UCSF’s University Community Partnerships Program, Goodwill Industries and Robbin and Associates are partnering to present a series of workshops for managers and staff of employment programs serving ex-offenders.
“The idea is to further UCSF’s commitment to developing San Francisco’s workforce by helping improve the employment outcomes for ex-offenders who are attempting to reenter the workforce,” said Damon Lew, workforce development coordinator for the UCSF University Community Partnerships Program.
According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, a quarter of the American population has a criminal record on file somewhere. Reentry is defined as the process of leaving jail and returning to society. There are unique challenges and issues that arise for the employer when an employee is beginning work after a period of being in jail.
Today, UCSF will offer a workshop, titled “Ex-Offenders and the Employer Connection,” which will focus on developing job search strategies among ex-offenders. The workshop takes place from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. in room N 114 of Genentech Hall on the UCSF Mission Bay campus.
Another workshop on Thursday, Dec. 11, titled “Keep Working and Don’t Live Your Life Behind Bars,” will focus on retention. It also takes place from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Genentech Hall on the Mission Bay campus. Room details to follow.
San Francisco Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi strongly supports partnerships between the University and the community, and plans to attend the December workshop.
Both workshops require pre-registration and cost $25. For more details, contact
[email protected].
The workshops target agencies providing direct services to the reentry population. Partnering with UCSF allows the agencies to gain access to the resources and support needed to offer a training workshop for their staffs.
The University Community Partnership Program hopes that the workshops will result in an increased awareness of how employment opportunities can play a vital role in the reduction of recidivism rates.
The idea is that workshop attendees will gain tools and skills that will help drive the success of both their own agency’s program and increase their ability to foster collaborative relationships with employers that can offer employment to the populations they serve.
UCSF is the second-largest employer in the city and county of San Francisco, and several of its sites are located in underserved areas where a large percentage of the city’s reentry population resides.
The workshops exemplify the idea of serving the community, one of seven strategic directions listed in the UCSF Strategic Plan. The workshop series directly addresses the goal to develop strong partnerships in the local community and “to promote workforce development and employment,” as recommended in the plan.
Achieving Full Potential
The workshops are led by Larry Robbin, executive director of Robbin and Associates, a nationally known expert in the area of workforce development. With more than 40 years of experience with the reentry population, Robbin has worked with hundreds of government agencies, businesses, nonprofit organizations, training providers and workforce development programs.
“It is very important that managers and staff learn the skills that are needed to help their entire workforce achieve their full potential,” said Robbin. “No successful workforce development program can ignore the needs of the reentry population.”
Partnering organization Goodwill Industries, which is a UCSF community partner, has a longstanding commitment to providing job placement services for ex-offenders.
“These types of workshops and getting the support of organizations like UCSF help us in training our staff to provide more strategic job search services,” said Troy Henry, business services manager at Goodwill Industries. “The more knowledge we have in better supporting our participants, the better outcome we’ll have in getting them a job that will last.”
More than two-thirds of released prisoners return to jail within three years. Successful reentry of ex-offenders into society is a major priority of the US Department of Justice. Several inmates in a prison job training program at Chowchilla, the largest women’s prison in the world, located in California’s Central Valley, cited “not having a decent job” as the main reason that they committed a crime and returned to jail.
Of those individuals with a past criminal record who were introduced to UCSF through programs like the one at Goodwill Industries, several have been working successfully for more than a year at UCSF.
“We recognize that UCSF is in a unique position to utilize our various resources to provide these types of capacity-building workshops to our community partners,” said Lew. “The more education and training we can provide to our community partners, the greater their ability will be to address the unique challenges they face in working with those individuals that have specific barriers to employment.”
