Milwaukee Group Helps Past Offenders ‘Clean Slate,’ Seek Jobs

Finding work isn’t easy for the more than 60 million people in the country with a past conviction. A Milwaukee-based organization is offering to help ex-offenders get their foot in the door by making it easier for them to clear their criminal records.

A criminal record, be it a misdemeanor or a felony, is one of the biggest obstacles to finding a job. It’s an obstacle that disproportionately affects African-Americans in inner city communities. Shanyeill Mcloud lost her job at a bank in 2007, after being convicted of battery for fighting with her abusive husband. Though she spent less than a week in jail, her job prospects dried up immediately.

“I’ve been able to experience going on three or few interviews, acing all the tests, and been able to get to the last round, only for them to say, ‘I’d love to give you this job but I can’t, because of your conviction.’”

McCloud has teamed up with Madison attorney Shunette Hunter to help people like her get their criminal records expunged. The program is called Clean Slate. Hunter says it’s illegal to use a criminal record to deny someone employment, unless the offense is directly related to the job, but proving employers are doing that is almost impossible.

“It’s hard for you to prove that they are actually using that record against you, because there are a lot of reasons why you might not be a good fit for a job. We know from the percentages [that] people with an arrest or a conviction record are more than twice as likely to be unemployed or unemployable, so you need more than that.”

Clean Slate is backing a bill that would make a current state law retroactive, allowing people with old convictions to have them removed by a judge.

The work of Clean Slate was the topic of Joy Cardin’s show this morning at 6 a.m., on the Ideas Network of Wisconsin Public Radio.