New program finds success connecting Hamilton residents with criminal records to jobs

When it comes to finding jobs, having things like a cellphone, reliable transportation and safety equipment are all items many of us might take for granted, but imagine not having access to any of those and having a criminal conviction.

A new program called WorkPath Employment Services by the John Howard Society of Hamilton, Burlington and Area is busting down all of those barriers.

“I’ve had a lot of stuff in my life that I shouldn’t have done and … I paid my debt to society,” Jason Kane, a 46-year-old father of four in Hamilton, told CityNews.

Getting candid when it comes to his past, he said property crime and drugs landed him in prison. However, he’s been out of custody for a year now.

“I can’t say for sure where I’d be, but I mean I know I would be doing stuff I shouldn’t have been doing and I’d be out draining the society again. Now I’m putting back in and I feel good about it, I feel good about my family,” Kane said.

“I’ve been doing great. I’ve just been trying to reconnect with my family, and do good, and I went to school, I got the degree, now I’m out working.”

For people with criminal records, it’s not the easiest thing to do.

He credited the staff assigned to WorkPath with giving him the helping hand he needed. Kane, who previously worked in construction off and on, said they got him into Mohawk College to be credentialed in welding.

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The year-long program, which has a mandate of connecting people like Kane with well-paying manufacturing jobs in the region, received around $300,000 in funding from the Ontario government.

As part of the Fair Chances campaign, the John Howard Society is one of many organizations working to educate employers on hiring people with criminal records and working with them to address any potential concerns.

“They very quickly demonstrate to employers that they have the skills, the capacity and the dedication that it takes to be successful,” Donna de Jong, the acting executive director of the John Howard Society of Hamilton, Burlington and Area, told CityNews.

“(It’s) asking them to give one person one chance.”

In addition to outlining the benefits to employers, she said they have the flexibility to offer some financial incentives to help bring someone in on a trial basis.

When it comes to WorkPath, she said the year-end targets were exceeded in less than seven months. But further funding is needed to keep it going for another year past July and to expand it by hiring an additional staff member.

“Everyone says it’s life-altering, they may not use those same two words. Having someone external to themselves and external to us … to have that externally validated as well it’s amazing some of the changes people are able to make,” de Jong said.

She said what makes the program unique is that it’s individual-based and quickly responsive to needs.

Anything required as a condition of employment, such as safety work boots and other related gear, a cellphone or basic tools, will be funded by the organization.

For safety gear, de Jong said the organization is working with a specialty shop that program participants can visit and pick up whatever they need for work and the items will be invoiced back to WorkPath.

She recalled a recent instance where the last barrier to getting a job was getting a forklift certification. They approached the company and asked for two weeks while they setup training to get that done. As a result of that intervention, the person got hired on.

“If there are a lot of processes to go through, a lot of red tape, that person is going to miss out on the job opportunity and the employer is going to miss out on that great employee,” de Jong said.

“Everyone is different. Cookie-cutter models of service provision don’t work at the best of times, and certainly not for individuals that have additional barriers or have significant stigma attached to them.”

Not all of the assistance measures extend to life skills. She said pre-employment preparatory work can include teaching someone how to use transit or even getting an alarm clock as well as building up the participant’s confidence and self-esteem.

“If we look at someone who served a perhaps lengthy period of incarceration, that routine was laid out for them. They were told when to get up, when to get dressed, when to eat, when to go outside, when to come back in … for some people that can be an adjustment,” de Jong said.

“I think a lot of the time people don’t see the value and the skills and capacities they will bring to an employer.”

Monte McNaughton, Ontario’s minister of labour, training and skills development, told CityNews he and his ministry back the effort — especially with hundreds of thousands of unfilled jobs.

“I’m fully committed to rolling this out in more parts of the province. I love this program, I believe in second chances, I believe in the power of forgiveness but most importantly giving people a hand up and building stronger families,” he said.

“It really is an economic issue. We need all hands on deck to fill the labour shortages and grow our economy so this is a win for those people who have good paycheques now but also a win for employers.”

Meanwhile, as Kane embarks on his new career, he said he wants to serve as a role model to his family and his community.

“I just want to be productive and teach my kids I’m not going to be that guy, you know, somebody that’s not going to be there for them,” he said, encouraging others like him who need a job to seek assistance.

“Try whatever you can do with your life to get it started. Nobody’s going to do anything for you unless you do it for yourself, so ask for help. That’s what I did I asked for it … we need more programs like this to keep this going and make change.”