GARY, Ind. _ Weeks after his release from the Westville Correctional Facility, Glen Weaver came to a Gary job fair at the U.S. Steel Yard in Gary with little formal work experience.
Before an eight-year prison sentence for dealing cocaine, he had worked sporadic odd jobs, he said. Now at 40, he was looking for open-minded employers.
To help Weaver and others with criminal records, the city of Gary and state's HIRE program set up a job fair partly geared for ex-convicts.
About 40 people showed for the fair in the morning, which was also open to the public.
"They look at those individuals; they served their time," Jennifer Jones, HIRE Re-Entry Region 1 Coordinator said recently. "There's no changing, there's no going back. They are willing to give them an opportunity."
The HIRE program works with convicts, typically men ages 25 to 50, to connect them to employment, she said.
A steady stream of applicants stopped by the South Shore Line booth, which was hiring for coach cleaners, track workers, electricians and machinists.
"We look at every applicant on a case-by-case basis," Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District Human Resources and Labor Relations Director Bjarne Henderson said. "That's what the law requires."
It featured more than two dozen employers including the City of Gary, Staff Source, Ivy Tech, Speedway, Indiana Department of Transportation, 1st Option, Industry One, Illinois Central School Bus, Vexor Technology, Army National Guard, HMD Trucking, Upright Iron Works, Teleperformance, Performance Plus, UPS, the RailCats, Care Source and People's Bank.
Unemployment rate in the Gary metropolitan area dropped to 4.1 percent in April, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
According to the Associated Press, the Indiana Department of Workforce Development found 15,000 ex-offenders are released from state prisons each year. The recidivism rate is at 38 percent.
Rodney Stanley, 45, of Gary, a former truck driver, had a felony conviction dating back two decades. He was looking for work that would let him be closer to his daughter, 6.
He said he had been out of work for about three months and was hopeful to hear back from an employer.
"Let's see if all of this is going to be put into action," Stanley said.
David Booker, 39, a truck driver, was looking to see who else was hiring.
A felony drug conviction dating back a decade had barred him from a lot of work. But, most employers tended to weigh how old the conviction was, he said.
"I'm pretty out of the woods with that," he said. "I let them know before I even apply. I'm not going to waste their time or mine."
"Just say, 'yes or no', and we go from there," he said.
