BCPS (Berks County Pre-trial Services) hosted the Connecting with Talent Tri-County Employer Roundtable comprised of employers and potential employers along with supportive agencies from Berks, Lancaster and Lebanon counties.
Berks County Commissioner Kevin Barnhardt and Pennsylvania Senator Judy Schwank welcomed the gathering of interested attendees. Rebuilding Reentrants and Reading – R3 - A Model Registered Pre-Apprenticeship Program was shared by Kerry Kerschner, BCPS DOC reentry director, along with those who have participated successfully in the program.
Two panel discussions comprised of employer/employee and reentry professionals shared their experiences as DOC Secretary John Wetzel moderated the event following his keynote.
The Employer Roundtable was developed to promote the hiring of reentrants addressing the barriers to hiring while sharing best practices, challenges and outcomes as education of employers and community will provide a more seamless path. In particular, transportation has been a critical impasse. The passing of Act 95 has aided in scaling that barrier as a remarkable first step. The Berks County Pretrial Services (BCPS) provides cognitive behavior training which the employers found beneficial and provided an advantage over community applicants. The overall consensus from the employer panel is there is virtually no difference between hiring reentrants or someone from the community with outcomes and challenges being similar. Increased income is equated to greater citizenship and self-esteem. Wernersville benefited with $100,000 in tax benefit to the community due to the reentrant employment by one company, so tax benefits should also be stressed. Additionally, there is a labor shortage, and these people are an incredible talent pool with training in place much of the time or they have the drive and the ability to receive the training and become successful with sustainable wage jobs for their families, the employer and the community. It is a win-win for the employee, employer, community and tax-paying citizens to hire people with the opportunity for a second chance through "smart chance" decision-making.
Craig Pool, General Manager of the Double Tree by Hilton, and host, closed the meeting with his positive experience noting that they are the number one under 250-bed Hilton in the world and attributes this accolade to the staff of which over 75 percent have experienced the criminal justice system. Treating people with respect, kindness and empowerment while requiring responsibility have been some of the keys to their success and replication by Hilton throughout their organization.