JOIN THE MOVEMENT TO BAN THE BOX!! PLEDGE TODAY

JOIN THE MOVEMENT TO BAN THE BOX!!  TAKE THE PLEDGE TODAY

All of Us or None is a grassroots civil rights organizing initiative started by formerly-incarcerated people and our families.  We are building a movement to win full restoration of our civil and human rights, to eliminate the discrimination that people with past convictions face, and to fight for the human rights of all people in prison.

What is the BAN THE BOX Campaign? People coming out of prison or jail are often denied employment, excluded from public housing, denied student loans, welfare, and food stamps. They experience structural discrimination because of their answer to the question, “Have you been convicted by a court?” Discrimination based on past convictions makes it almost impossible for people coming out of prison to successfully return to community life.

The Ban the Box campaign is an effort to reduce all forms of structural discrimination by eliminating the question about past convictions from applications for jobs, housing, and other opportunities.  All of Us or None started our campaign by exposing discrimination in hiring for public employment in San Francisco in 2005. Since then, this question has been eliminated from public employment applications by 9 states and over 50 cities and counties, including New York City, Chicago, Philadelphia, Oakland and San Francisco.

Why should Foundations and Non-Profit Organizations BAN THE BOX? As social justice organizations and foundations, you are our allies in the struggle for justice; many of you have been in the forefront of supporting prisoners’ rights. People with conviction histories are determined to win full restoration of our rights. We urge you now to be help reduce widespread job discrimination against people with past convictions.  Take the pledge today, to open up opportunities at your workplace for people with records – we can contribute as staff, volunteers, and Board members.

We urge you to evaluate your organization’s mission statement, anti-discrimination principles, and hiring practices. Join the many organizations and foundations that are adjusting their personnel policies and mission statements to include protections for the rights of formerly-incarcerated/convicted people. Join the movement to Ban the Box in your organization. Endorse the campaign! Take the pledge at: http://bantheboxcampaign.org

Some examples of ways your organization can ban the box:

Peace Development Fund has adopted this non-discrimination statement. Grassroots Leadership prints their inclusion statement in every newsletter. Omnia Foundation, the Fund for Nonviolence, the Funding Exchange and many other organizations have joined this campaign. You can welcome people with conviction records into your organization as staff, volunteers or members of the Board of Directors or Advisory Board.

Peace Development Fund Non-Discrimination Policy Date Issued 2-01-91, Revised 10-01-06.

It is the policy of the Peace Development Fund to reaffirm publicly its moral and legal commitment to a policy of equal opportunity and non-discrimination in employment and all personnel, grant making, training, volunteer opportunities (including Board membership) and all other decisions, programs and activities.

This statement reaffirms Peace Development Fund policy to be an equal opportunity employer, and to recruit, hire, train, and promote at all levels the most qualified applicants without regard for race, ethnicity, age, color, religion, sex, gender (real or perceived), national origin, sexual orientation, transgender/transsexual identity, economic class, educational background, physical or mental disability, medical condition, marital status, or status as a veteran or the status as formerly convicted/incarcerated person (collectively known as “Status Factors”).  All such decisions are made on the basis of individual qualifications as they relate to the requirement of a particular job.

All other personnel decisions, such as compensation, benefits, layoffs, recall, staff development, and training will be administered without regard to the Status Factors.  In keeping with this policy, the Director of Administration and Finance will be the EEO coordinator for the agency, and will have overall responsible for the implementation and monitoring of the equal employment opportunity policy of the Peace Development Fund.

All applicants for funding must certify, by submitting a copy of their non-discrimination statement, that they do not discriminate and provide equal opportunity in their hiring and access to their programs and activities on the basis of the Status Factors.  (Organizations may target services to a specific population when the targeted groups require specialized programs to meet specific needs not shared by the general population.  Additionally, an organization may provide targeted programs or services to redress current or past discrimination against a group.)

In all areas of employment, PDF seeks to comply with all applicable federal and state laws and guidelines including Title VI and VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964; Executive Order 11246 of 1965 as amended by Executive Order 11375 of 1967; and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended.