Washington County is trying to help former felons and those with mental health problems.
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January 13, 2009
In yet another dimension of a tough economy, people who have felony convictions and mental and chemical health problems are having more difficulty than usual finding jobs in Washington County, commissioners were told Tuesday.
Robert Crawford, who oversees the county WorkForce Center, said the growing unemployment rate was compounding efforts to find willing employers at time when the market is filling with skilled workers caught in layoffs.
Washington County has a 5.6 percent unemployment rate, which is resulting in higher traffic at county social services offices.
The County Board voted to continue Washington County's involvement in an eight-county program that tracks how well people facing "severe and multi barriers" do in the workplace. Monitoring job applicants in the Minnesota Family Investment Program, now in its fifth year, will cost $327,000 and will be funded with state money, Crawford said.
Without jobs, Crawford said in a later interview, such people tend to become a burden on county agencies such as community corrections. "If they have a job and they're working, they're paying back to society," he said.
A key feature of the program is coordinating education, housing, child care and health care and working to prevent domestic violence, Crawford said. Certain people with felony convictions or with mental and chemical health problems are tracked for six months in the study, whose aim is to improve their chances of getting a steady job.
After Crawford's presentation, Commissioner Dennis Hegberg expressed concern for employers considering whether to hire felons. Many considerations come into play, Hegberg said, including felons working in proximity to children.
Crawford said very few felons are being hired in the current economic downturn. He said, however, that the WorkForce Center helps prospective employers if they take a chance on hiring someone. The agency has a bonding program to cover employers and in some cases offers tax incentives, he said.
"What it really comes down to is having good sales people out there selling the system," he said. "Sometimes all it takes is one success."
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