The toolkit provides guidance and resources for state and local organizations to implement a place-based Fair Chance employment pilot program.
The employer cohort model outlined in the toolkit enables employers with shared hiring needs to come together and learn how to harness Fair Chance hiring to expand their access to qualified job seekers. In the process, participating employers share best practices and collaboratively troubleshoot challenges as they launch their own Fair Chance initiatives. The toolkit takes employers and local industry organizers such as the Georgia Manufacturer’s Association through five major steps for building and launching a Fair Chance hiring initiative: Plan, Partner, Equip, Implement, and Sustain.
The Manufacturing Institute (MI) has released another guide for local communities and coalitions to help implement Fair Chance hiring initiatives. The toolkit is designed to help state and local manufacturing associations, chambers, and other local organizations build and implement place-based Fair Chance employment pilots. These local "hub organizations" with robust relationships in given sectors make strong organizers of these initiatives due to being uniquely positioned to convene employers for structured learning and peer-to-peer best practice sharing. In doing so, they can both elevate the learnings of experienced Fair Chance leaders in the employer community and serve as catalysts for companies that have been wanting to start an initiative but may not know where to begin.
Such an employer cohort model is informed by the outcomes of the MI’s Federation for Advanced Manufacturing Education (FAME) program, which was founded by Toyota in 2010. FAME has helped hundreds of companies address skills gap issues in advanced manufacturing by implementing an intensive workforce development and education program for candidates in a cohort model. This pilot combines key elements of FAME with its multi-employer, collaborative learning approach focused on helping participating companies meet shared workforce needs.
The toolkit also includes a resource library designed to help employers get started by spotlighting key resources and employer programs that illustrate best practices.
If you're interested in learning more about MI's toolkit and how it can help you create a Fair Chance employment program in your community, you can access it online HERE.