Elm City Communities President Karen DuBois-Walton (second from left) with state NAACP President Scot X. Esdaile (second from right) outside housing authority headquarters on Orange St.
The city’s public housing authority has teamed up with the state NAACP on a nationwide effort to help formerly incarcerated people get jobs.
Elm City Communities/Housing Authority of New Haven made that announcement Thursday in an email press release.
The press release states that the city’s housing authority has signed an agreement with the Connecticut NAACP on its One Million Jobs Campaign (OMJC).
“The OMJC will work with employers to secure commitments to offer jobs for returning citizens that are enrolled in OMJC and identified as job ready,” that press release reads. “Employer partners will also provide feedback to the OMJC on referred participants.”
The email press release also states that OMJC is currently partnered with “healthcare, advanced manufacturers, and retailers to set aside over 10,000 jobs for formerly incarcerated individuals across the state of Connecticut over the next 3 – 5 years. Additional OMJC partners include Yale New Haven Health, Gateway Community College, and Project M.O.R.E.”
See below to read Thursday’s email press release in full, and click here to read a November 2021 article by the New Haven Register’s Mark Zaretsky about the NAACP-led jobs campaign.
Elm City Communities Partners with the Connecticut NAACP on its One Million Jobs Campaign
New Haven, CT (August 25, 2022) — Elm City Communities/Housing Authority of the City of New Haven (ECC/HANH) today announced its partnership with the Connecticut NAACP on its One Million Jobs Campaign (OMJC), to strengthen equity and the economic status of formerly incarcerated community members. This partnership aims to assist in creating a pipeline of attainable jobs available through ECC/HANH and for ECC/HANH residents and provide community-based wrap-around services to assist in workforce development and retention for formerly incarcerated members of New Haven. In signing this agreement, ECC/HANH became the first public housing authority in the country to become a partner agency.
“For decades, barriers to reentry have left our formerly incarcerated family members, friends, and neighbors behind,” said Karen DuBois-Walton, President of Elm City Communities. “This partnership provides an opportunity to address the continuing impacts of mass incarceration by focusing on the wellbeing and growth of our returning community members.”
The OMJC will work with employers to secure commitments to offer jobs for returning citizens that are enrolled in OMJC and identified as job ready. Employer partners will also provide feedback to the OMJC on referred participants.
“The One Million Jobs Campaign welcomes the partnership with Elm City Communities which will help create meaningful opportunities and a pathway to success through job placement and training for individuals impacted by the criminal justice system,” said Scot X. Esdaile, President of the Connecticut State Conference NAACP and national board member.
ECC/HANH has a longstanding commitment to serving families equitably and has established programs and protocols to assist families with reentry. We were among the first housing authorities in CT to rewrite our admission criteria and offer housing opportunities to our returning residents. We have set aside housing units and vouchers specifically to assist returning residents. This partnership is the next step in ECC/HANH’s commitment to serving the reentry population holistically by providing employment opportunities.
“Elm City Communities is proud to become the first public housing authority in the US to sign on to the One Million Jobs Campaign,” said DuBois-Walton. “It is our hope that other housing authorities and employers will follow suit so we can strengthen the economic well-being of our community members that need it most.”
OMJC is currently partnered with healthcare, advanced manufacturers, and retailers to set aside over 10,000 jobs for formerly incarcerated individuals across the state of Connecticut over the next 3 – 5 years. Additional OMJC partners include Yale New Haven Health, Gateway Community College, and Project M.O.R.E..