Articles & News

April 3, 2008

Dellums insists Oakland trying to hire felons

Christopher Heredia, Chronicle Staff Writer

Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums has not delivered on his promise a year ago to open the door for ex-felons to work for the city, according to advocates for parolees who protested at City Hall on Tuesday.

In response, Dellums said city officials are looking for employment for more than 2,000 ex-felons who have sought city jobs since he became mayor in January 2007.

He added in a statement that his office has hired a re-entry specialist and is working with prison and jail officials to prepare parolees for the workforce.

Dellums, in one of his first anti-crime initiatives as mayor last year, said City Hall ought to set an example for the private sector by removing the box on city applications where applicants must disclose whether they have been convicted of a felony.

The mayor said parolees ought to be given a chance at a job, and he trumpeted the plan as a way to reduce recidivism among the 3,000 prisoners paroled each year to Alameda County, many of them in Oakland.

"Where it makes sense, let's take that box away," Dellums said at the time. "How can we ask private industry to do something we refuse to? Where is the integrity in that?"

The box remains on all city applications.

"We're calling on Mayor Dellums to make his administration start to fulfill a promise he made more than 14 months ago," said Linda Evans, an organizer with All of Us or None, an ex-felon lobby that organized Tuesday's protest. "By law, we've completed our sentence. Why are we being punished our whole lives?"

Others at the rally, which drew about 100 protesters, carried signs reading, "Stop Profiling," "Ban the Box," and "More Jobs Mean a Safer Oakland."

Evans and others said they would prefer employers do a background check, including criminal history, after a conditional offer of employment is made. That way an ex-felon isn't deterred from filing an application.

The box on city job applications hasn't been an impediment to hiring ex-felons, a spokeswoman for City Administrator Deborah Edgerly said Tuesday.

While the city does not track the number of ex-felons it employs out of concern for stigmatizing them, only 14 of 2,700 ex-felons who have applied for city jobs since February 2006 were turned away because of past convictions, spokeswoman Karen Boyd said. The rest went on through the application process.

City officials are eliminating the box for appropriate jobs, starting with the Public Works Department, Boyd said. This summer, officials will review positions in the community and economic development and the administrative divisions. Applications for police and fire jobs, as well as jobs where employees work with children or money, will continue to have the box.

"The box is a symbol, but the real issue is whether people are being discriminated against," Boyd said. "We're for ensuring there is no discrimination for any reason in our hiring process."

One person who has benefited from the city's efforts is Reauz Wahab, a 29-year-old father of two who was paroled in October after serving 11 months in San Quentin State Prison for robbery.

Wahab is now doing landscaping under contract with the city and hopes to get a full-time job steering troubled youth into construction work and other jobs once he earns his GED. He works for the city through the Men of Valor Academy, a program run by Acts Full Gospel Church in East Oakland.

"My experience has become a blessing," Wahab said. "If it wasn't for this academy, for this job, I would not be where I am today, which is on top. I'm a supervisor, earning $20 an hour. I'm able to help other guys get on their feet and show them there is a way, there is a chance as long as you stay focused."

Dellums said that even though some people are not satisfied with the steps he has taken to find employment for ex-felons, progress is being made.

"Removing the box is only one important aspect of providing quality service to formerly incarcerated individuals, and I am confident that my administration, in concert with city departments, has taken some positive steps forward," Dellums said.

E-mail Christopher Heredia at cheredia@sfchronicle.com.