LOUISVILLE, Ky. —
Louisville area unions came together this week to help find work for those needing a second chance.
With the region, and country, coming out of the pandemic, people are stressed, struggling for cash and employers are desperately looking for workers.https://59223458b7796096d01affafb59f3751.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html?n=0Advertisement
But what if you have a felony? The stress of not being able to provide might invite former felons to relapse back into crime as a way to survive.
“We do not discriminate and we do believe folks need second chances, sometimes third chances, we’re a union that’s out here internationally,” said Cornelius Cotton, president of Local Union 576.
The unions gathered Tuesday at King Solomon Missionary Baptist Church to invite those with a plagued criminal past an opportunity for a better future and maybe even a career.
On Father’s Day, Rev. Charles Elliot was among those who led a peace walk to stop the violence. The effort to help the former felons find work was part of a goal to not just walk and pray against the crime that’s impacting the community, but to help those looking for a better way out.
“I’m a two-time convicted felon myself, but my past doesn’t dictate my future,” said Lamont Anthony Sr., one of those looking for a job.
Just more than a dozen men and women turned out to find new opportunities, on a mission to steer themselves from old ways and into new lucrative and legal ways to provide for their families.
Organizers said people who have struggled to look for work have had to resort to providing for their families by any means. In some ways, that leads to more crime in a city that’s plagued by it.
Union leaders said a career creates accountability and better use of free time.
The efforts to help the former felons won’t stop here, too. The local unions and other organizations have plans to hold job fairs once a week around the metro.
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