“Where you feel you belong, is where you tend to stay” said Brenda Palms, President and CEO of North Lawndale Employment Network (NLEN).

On Thursday, more than 50 Corporate Coalition members and guests discussed fair chance hiring at North Lawndale Employment Network.

Stephanie Dolan, Corporate Coalition of Chicago Program Director, updated the group on our growing and diverse work aimed at including the one in three working-age Americans who have an arrest or conviction record into the workforce.

Marcos Gonzales, Corporate Coalition of Chicago Program Director, led an interactive re-entry simulation that highlighted the challenges faced by system-impacted individuals when they leave incarceration.

Mandee R. Polonsky from Northwestern Medicine, and Terryon Adams and Chasda Martin from North Lawndale Employment Network shared insights on fair chance hiring from employer, jobseeker, and workforce agency perspectives. Mandee shared her simple, powerful insight on how to challenge the status quo: ask why processes and policies exist, ask why again, and then ask why not change them, to make hiring more inclusive.

To learn more about how your company can hire fair chance talent, reach out to Stephanie Dolan.