Facilitating Re-entry into the Workforce for Formerly Incarcerated Women

The facts:

State and federal prisons have seen a 122% increase in confined women since 1991 .This represents part of the six-fold increase of women in the last three decades, as compared to threefold for men. In California, nearly 80% of women in jails and prisons are mothers, and many will resume their caregiving responsibilities upon release.

With AB 109, California’s realignment program, thousands of women are being and will be released into the community. Women disproportionately represent those who served time for non-violent crimes, and are thus are disproportionately impacted by AB 109. The women released as a result of Realignment have faced and continue to face numerous barriers to finding employment that would enable them to support themselves and their families upon release.

Equal Rights Advocates’ project:

Through an innovative project funded by Levi Strauss Foundation (Breaking Barriers), ERA has developed a plan to help empower formerly incarcerated women with knowledge of their employment-related rights and with a voice to tell their stories through video and social media, and to expand their employment opportunities through policy change. Through these efforts, we hope to not only improve the outcomes for the women seeking to reenter into society, but also for their children, their families, and their communities.

Let Her Work

An innovative series featuring the stories of three formerly incarcerated women in California who struggled to find work, ERA hope’s “Let Her Work” will inspire the public to support progressive criminal justice and realignment reform for women and formerly incarcerated people in California.

For more on Cheavon, Flora, and Victoria, click their names to watch short videos of their stories.

What can you do to help? Watch, share, and like.

Like “Let Her Work” on YouTube and Facebook. Tweet about it.
Tell your story about the struggles and successes that you, a close friend, or family member, faced in finding employment upon release from prison.
Tell your legislators that you support AB 218 and AB 651, bills that will reduce barriers for women with criminal conviction histories. Click here to support AB 218.
Talk to colleagues, friends, family, and community leaders about your support for reducing barriers for women and folks with criminal conviction history records.