The Sacramento Bee: Labor unions, health access and immigrant advocacy organizations celebrated when Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the Fair Share from Big Corporations Act into law last month. But some policy analysts worry the effort to make companies pay more toward their workers’ healthcare could unintentionally shift who and how they hire.

Construction: Companies that are serious about meeting demand, remaining competitive, and building the next generation of talent can’t afford to overlook job seekers with a record.

The Observer: Critics say Home Office ban on visas for ex-offenders is short-sighted and bad for the economy.

Chicago Tribune: The Corporate Coalition of Chicago and RBIJ share why employers don’t have to wait for Clean Slate implementation, they can start Fair Chance Hiring now.

Fast Company: Workforce & Justice Alliance Member Frontier Co-op shares why they are a second-chance employer.

Ragan: Ragan is proud to announce the winners of the 2025 CSR Awards, honoring the communicators, teams and organizations making a meaningful difference through purpose-driven work.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Mark Haynes was incarcerated for four years. But he put that time to good use, earning multiple certifications related to dog grooming and training and for veterinary assistance.

FedCommunities: Debt-related suspensions also keep people out of the workforce. Many jobs require a driver’s license. And driving may be the only way for some to get to work.

The Hustler Files: Guests Caz Walcott, Director of Inclusive Hiring at the Responsible Business Initiative for Justice (RBIJ), and Jon Feinman, Founder of InnerCity Weightlifting share the transformative power of inclusive hiring practices.

People Management: The stigma surrounding hiring individuals with criminal records often feels insurmountable, but Ken Oliver, a member of the Responsible Business Initiative for Justice (RBIJ), believes the root lies in misunderstanding. 

SHRM: 'Opportunity youth’—disadvantaged young people who are neither in school nor in the workforce—are overcoming hardships and gaining employment.

Staffing Industry Analysts: The business case for hiring candidates with justice-impacted backgrounds is strong, CWS 3.0 previously reported.

NBC4 Ohio: Numerous Ohio employers are embracing a trend that helps job fill positions in a shrinking workforce, by hiring formerly incarcerated individuals.

Axios 1 big thing: CEO Maha Jweied discusses how businesses can advance second chance hiring and how RBIJ assists employers in their inclusive hiring journeys.

Ohio Capital Journal: A pair of Ohio Republican lawmakers are trying to make it easier to get non-violent criminal records sealed to help formerly incarcerated Ohioans get hired, but advocates say that’s not enough.  

HR Brew: This often untapped talent pool may offer HR the opportunity to fill open positions with eager and driven young talent.

Boston Globe: Massachusetts is lagging and should join other states that have enacted “clean slate” automated record-sealing laws.

Be it through advocacy, justice focused-initiatives, or hiring, corporations can be instruments of change. And change cannot come fast enough.

In the United States, Black men are nearly six times as likely to be incarcerated as White men. Black people use drugs at exactly the same rate as White people, yet they are 10 times more likely to be arrested for drug offenses. People of color account for 37 percent of the US population, yet they make up 67 percent of the total US prison population. Punishments are harsher, too — federally imposed sentences for Black men are 19 percent longer than for White men for similar crimes.