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Beyond the Box
Employer Certification

The Beyond the Box Certification (BTB Certification) is obtained by Tompkins County employers who engage in a one-year process in partnership with Ultimate Reentry Opportunity (URO) to become an employer who hires and retains people with past criminal justice system involvement. 

 

In working toward becoming Beyond the Box Certified, the employer commits to more than “banning the box,” or the process of eliminating the check box on job applications that ask candidates about their past criminal history.

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Beyond the Box Employer Certification focuses on employer culture shift, outreach and recruitment, hiring, retention, and creating an inclusive workplace environment where all can thrive. The program has been approved for a pilot test funding, and URO is working to secure on-going funding streams.

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In 2024, Moosewood Restaurant became URO's first Beyond the Box partner in Tompkins County.

 

Professor Ian Greer at the Cornell University's School of Labor and Industrial Relations, will study the effectiveness and impact of the pilot program. This data will be incorporated into future BTB Certification revisions.

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How Did We Get Here?

It took five years of initiatives, research, working groups, proposals, partnerships and grant funding to define the issue, identify solutions, design an initiative, source a partner, and launch a pilot program.

This is slow, steady work. 


 

Jan 2024

Jan 2024

Pilot Program Study

Pilot Employer

 Partnership with IRL School Professor Ian Greer and Thomas Tee Jones, Grad Student in ILR and person with justice system lived experience – agree to fund and develop evaluation of BTB 1 year pilot

URO identifies the revered Moosewood Restaurant in Ithaca, NY,  as our first BTB employer.

Sept 2022

Oct 2022

April 2023

Report Findings

Employment Summit

Pilot Funding

Employment Report on Systemic Barriers to Reentry in Tompkins County 2022_FINAL

Key results indicate a lot of stigma and discrimination for job applicants with criminal justice records; decision to focus on creating structure for employers to become reentry friendly employers

URO Reentry Employment Summit Notes 10.4.2022–Important doc for key stakeholders/partners involved in identifying priorities

OTR funding renewed for 2024 Beyond the Box Employment Certification Pilot submitted and funded. Beyond the Box Certification Presentation.pdf This provides the preliminary conceptualization of Beyond the Box Certification process

Spring 2020

Fall 2019

Data Analysis

Qualitative Research

Students assisted with coding and analyzing 54 qualitative interviews; conducting background research.

Undergraduate students conducted 54 interviews with individuals living in Tompkins County who were 18 years or older and previously involved with the criminal justice system (prison and/or jail)

May 2018

Spring 2018

March 2019

Beyond the Box 
Networking and Job Fair

Data Development 
Working Group

Gino Bush Beyond the Box Reentry Fair

Networking and connecting with local employers and service providers who believe in removing barriers to employment, fair chance hiring practices and eliminating the stigma associated with incarceration. Hosted by the Chamber of Commerce, the Women’s Opportunity Center, Workforce NY, Hospitality Education Training Program, Catholic Charities of Tompkins County, Challenge Workforce Solutions, Opportunities, Alternatives and Resources (OAR), Alternative Credit Union, and Ultimate Reentry Opportunity (URO).

An Engaged Research grant from Cornell University to examine the most prominent systemic barriers to reentry in Tompkins County. Three professors trained 40 undergraduate students at Cornell University (Government Dept) and Ithaca College (Center for the Study of Culture, Race and Ethnicity) in human subject research with vulnerable populations. 

Keynote speaker Pres. Shirley Collado of Ithaca College presented Banning the Box to 40 Tompkins County employers. It's  a huge opportunity to learn from employer perspectives what barriers to hiring people with past records are.

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