ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) — Two local organizations are working together to reduce crime by bridging the gap between employment and those impacted by the justice system. Trinity Alliance alongside the Success Map Initiative hosted what they call a ‘fair chance,’ or ‘second chance,’ job fair in Albany on Wednesday. Their goal is exactly that: to bring interested employers and dedicated employees together, while breaking the stigma that surrounds those who have been incarcerated.
“Unfortunately, this community doesn’t get this type of look, doesn’t get this type of outreach,” noted Eric Thompson with Trinity Alliance. “It doesn’t get this type of concern. But today is a different story. We got people walking in through these doors who are leaving with opportunities that they didn’t walk through them with. We got people that are walking through these doors that recognize that the south end is not a place where hope goes to die, that the south end is a place where we can revive each other and we can revive our ideas of what we can be to help our community, help our children, because that’s what it’s really all about.”
Trent Griffin-Braaf is the founder of the Success Map Initiative, an organization dedicated to giving those affected by the justice system a helping hand.
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“One thing we know, people really thrive in the workforce when they have relationships, when they have trust,” explained Griffin-Braaf. “The big thing, when you have a criminal record, is people tend not to trust you as much. And so because of that, access is kind of denied.”…