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Volunteers needed for clinic that helps ex-offenders find work
By Bruce Walton
YOUNGSTOWN
Anthony Sims, 34, spent his Saturday morning at the Mahoning-Youngstown Community Action Partnership office in order to file a petition for a Certification for Qualification of Employment.
Sims has been an ex-offender since he was arrested and convicted of burglary at 18 in 2001.
He served his sentence, but said his record never left him when he tried to rise above it.
“I just want to be able to get a job without being discriminated against,” he said. “They say you don’t get punished twice, but that’s a lie.”
Since then, Sims said he has not been arrested for any other crime and has been job hunting for months.
Ex-offenders such as Sims who want to find employment or even housing come to the clinic the last Saturday of every month to try to obtain a CQE to have more opportunities for work.
But the clinic, hosted by Community Initiative to Reduce Violence, Home for Good Re-Entry Resource Referral Center and MYCAP is greatly understaffed.
Lola Simmons, director of Home for Good, leads the clinic from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on those Saturdays with the help of four to five volunteers who evaluate ex-offenders. The volunteers work with individuals to file a petition in Mahoning County Court of Common Pleas for approval.
Although the number of applicants varies from month to month, they can have more than 20 people in one day and usually have to turn people away because each evaluation takes up to an hour, Simmons said. The clinic, however, allows them to schedule an appointment throughout the month until the next time the clinic opens.
“I don’t want anybody to leave dismayed,” she said. “It takes a lot to step up and say, ‘I need this, I’m going to get this done, I qualify.’ But they didn’t have anybody to do it.”
More than anything, Simmons said the clinic needs more support through volunteers to speed the process along for people who want to have a better life. Anyone, even ex-offenders, can become a volunteer and train the same day to process individuals.
Sims said he lives with his family and has been unemployed for a while now. He hopes by gaining a CQE he can get a job and afford a decent place to live, and then gain custody of his 7-year-old daughter, Anaya.
“I can’t help anybody else unless I help myself,” he said.
If you have a misdemeanor record, you can apply for a CQE six months after your sentence (including supervision) is completed. If you have a felony record, you can apply for a CQE one year after your sentence (including supervision) is completed. All convictions must have been only in Ohio.
For information, call CIRV at 330-742-8779, Home for Good Re-Entry Resource Referral Center at 330-743-3700 or MYCAP at 330-757-7921.