{"id":26433,"date":"2024-07-28T12:30:00","date_gmt":"2024-07-28T18:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/colorados-recidivism-rate-is-28-this-job-fair-is-hoping-to-change-that\/"},"modified":"2024-07-28T18:30:00","modified_gmt":"2024-07-28T18:30:00","slug":"colorados-recidivism-rate-is-28-this-job-fair-is-hoping-to-change-that","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/colorados-recidivism-rate-is-28-this-job-fair-is-hoping-to-change-that\/","title":{"rendered":"Colorado\u2019s recidivism rate is 28%. This job fair is hoping to change that"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The
The NXT Chapter is an organization that assists ex-offenders upon release from incarceration.<\/span>du1-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Jonathan Ogaz was getting a fresh haircut, like so many people do, on a Saturday. Ogaz wasn\u2019t at a regular barbershop getting just an ordinary haircut. He, along with many other ex-convicts, were at a job fair in downtown Denver, hoping to rejoin the workforce.<\/p>\n

The NXT Chapter\u2019s Felon Friendly Job Fair was held at the Assessment, Intake, and Diversion Center last weekend. The NXT Chapter is an organization that assists ex-offenders upon release from incarceration. The first day of the fair offered free haircuts, professional clothes, hygiene backpacks, cellphones, resume and cover letter assistance, along with other resources.<\/p>\n

Ogaz is on probation until 2025 for felony menacing. He says he fell into the wrong crowd when he was younger and became heavily addicted to drugs. Ogaz has been clean for two years and wants to continue on a positive path. So when his dad and his probation officer told him about the job fair, he didn\u2019t hesitate to attend.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m willing to try anything first,\u201d Ogaz said. \u201cI’m a hard worker. I will learn.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the first day of the event, Josephine Burton poked her head out of the building on Elati St. to see a long line of people waiting to enter.<\/p>\n

\u201cVery impressive and exciting at the same time,\u201d said Burton, NXT Chapter executive director and CEO.<\/p>\n

Benjie Aragon was waiting in that long line.<\/p>\n

\u201cFelons, they like to wait a little bit, but I’m already retired anyways,\u201d said Aragon, a former plumber who completed a one-year prison sentence for strong-arm assault in April. He is looking for a job where he can get some exercise.<\/p>\n

Aragon says he struggled with alcohol for 40 years and currently lives in a sober living program called Tribe Recovery Homes.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust give me a part-time job to where I could still function and get my benefits through Medicaid and the state,\u201d he said. \u201cI’m too active to just be sitting around.\u201d<\/p>\n

Getting people to work<\/div>\n

The state recidivism rate was 28%, according to the Colorado Department of Corrections\u2019 most recent report released in 2020. Colorado DOC defines recidivism as a return to prison or offender status within three years of release for new criminal activity or a technical violation of parole, or non-departmental community placement.<\/p>\n

Advocates say a major hurdle people face is access to resources and to work.<\/p>\n

In order to improve that rate, state lawmakers pushed to provide up to $3,000 in grants to those leaving incarceration during this past legislative session. The bill, SB24-012, failed due to concerns over costs and oversight.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s truly hard because one thing that we notice is trying to connect (people) to resources and employment,\u201d NXT Chapter chief financial officer and co-founder Marquell Burton said. \u201cIt’s kind of scattered all over the place. What we wanted to do (with the job fair) is create a one-stop shop to where we would bring (resources) in-house, in one spot, to where they can just come and they don’t have to search.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eleven employers from industries such as hospitality, construction, culinary arts, and mentoring conducted interviews at the event. Maquell Burton said the businesses were selected based on the positions offered and whether they are felony-friendly.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat’s the key thing. A lot of places don’t hire felons. If more did, we would have more vendors,\u201d Marquell Burton said. \u201cBut, these are the people that are willing to take the chance on the individuals that have a past that are now trying to change their future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sauve Construction, a family-owned roofing company in Aurora, was one business at the event. Sales manager Mark Richardson said he made 10 hires within the first hour of the day.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust because you had a problem doesn’t make you a bad person,\u201d Richardson said. \u201cIt means you made a bad decision. However, you can correct that decision and make better decisions, but you have to have an opportunity and a chance to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Finding help and support when the obstacles keep coming<\/div>\n

Josephine Burton knows how hard the road to work can be. After spending seven years in community corrections, she struggled to get her life back in order.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe land was foreign to me, so I found myself going into different cities and counties to be able to (get) everything that I needed to get on track and get my life together,\u201d Josephine Burton said. \u201cI kind of knew what the ex-offenders were needing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joseph James Bledsoe experienced these obstacles as recently as last week. He pleaded guilty to felony menacing nine years ago and applied for a job at a felony-friendly local food distributor.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe’s like, \u2018Oh, the felony won’t hurt you. As long as it was five years ago or whatever.\u2019\u201d Bledsoe said. \u201cI did my resume. I turned in my application. I did a physical for them. I did all kinds of running around. I went and got slacks, boots, and everything I needed for the warehouse.\u201d<\/p>\n

But a more recent misdemeanor criminal conviction on his record caused him to be turned down for the job. He has experience in carpentry and is looking to find a job to save up for a car so he can return to his trade; his truck was taken away following the felony conviction.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I would’ve known a felony makes it this difficult to get a job and to get around, I would’ve never ever done it,\u201d Bledsoe said. \u201cI went through a living hell pretty well.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Ogaz, who got a haircut at the event and talked to employers, it\u2019s been difficult to find a steady job for the last two years. He\u2019s worked at Elitch Gardens and McDonald\u2019s, but he wants something more permanent.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to do better. I want to move forward,\u201d Ogaz said. \u201cI want to find a career.\u201d<\/p>\n

To read more stories from Colorado Public Radio, visit www.cpr.org<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NXT Chapter is an organization that assists ex-offenders upon release from incarceration.du1-i-syn Jonathan Ogaz was getting a fresh haircut, like so many people do, on a Saturday. Ogaz wasn\u2019t at a regular barbershop getting just an ordinary haircut. He, along with many other ex-convicts, were at a job fair in downtown Denver, hoping to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26434,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[120,168,374,28],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-26433","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-colorado","tag-crime","tag-economic-development","tag-headlines"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26433","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26433"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26433\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26434"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26433"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=26433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}