Ending Hunger in America, 2014 Hunger Report Full Report | Page 101

CHAPTER 3 their re-entry into everyday life. Participants come predominantly from the Over the Rhine (OTR) community of Cincinnati, a depressed area of the city known for concentrated poverty and violent crime associated with the drug trade. The program’s goal was to help the men get jobs. It was founded in 2007 by Brother Mike Murphy after his return to Cincinnati from India, where he had spent 12 years with the Missionaries of Charity led by Mother Teresa. 2007 was a discouraging time to be launching a program to help a group of men with criminal records find jobs—a difficult task even in a strong economy. The end of 2007 was the beginning of the Great Recession. Many of the prospects Mike had Figure 3.2 State Polices Regarding Disqualification of SNAP worked to cultivate fell through. Benefits for Ex-offenders who Committed A The owner of a construction com Drug Felony pany had agreed to provide jobs to 20 men if Mike would work with them to obtain driver’s licenses and General Equivalency Degrees (GEDs). Mike held up his end of the bargain, but as the recession worsened, the company no longer DC had the jobs to offer. At first sight, Mike does not look like the natural leader of such a program. He is white and the Alaska men are without exception African American. At 73, he is older than the participants by decades—by 50 years in some cases. When he returned from India, he had little Drug Felony Disqualification Policy Guam Hawaii Virgin Islands experience with ex-offenders and Lifetime Ban (12) had not expected to be working Modified Ban (20) with them. But his parish commuNo Ban (21) nity challenged him to reach out to Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service (2012). the men standing on street corners all day, unable to find work. Initially, he thought the men were jobless because they lacked the skills that employers needed. He soon realized, though, that legal obstacles kept them from getting and holding onto jobs. The biggest difference between Mike and the men in the program was how they were viewed and treated by government. Changing the laws had to be at the top of the HELP Program’s agenda, he realized. In 2012, Ohio Governor John Kasich signed Senate Bill (SB) 337, an extensive reform of the employment restrictions on returning citizens. Through their lobbying efforts, the men in the HELP Program were instrumental in its passage. They met with legislators and shared their experiences of wanting to work but not being able to get jobs, in large part because of state sanctions. At the time the governor signed the bill, TJ was in prison for a parole violation but was following the bill’s progress in the newspaper. He wept when www.bread.org/institute? ? 2014 Hunger Report? 91 n