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CJEI Stories

Register Today: Qualified But Denied: How Policy Change Can Expand Access to Employment for Justice-Impacted New Yorkers

Join us on Wednesday, April 24, for the Center for Applied Research on Work's webinar "Qualified But Denied: How Policy Change Can Expand Access to Employment for Justice-Impacted New Yorkers."
care worker
Register Today: Qualified But Denied: How Policy Change Can Expand Access to Employment for Justice-Impacted New Yorkers

Center for Technology Licensing program continues to fund early-stage Cornell lab innovations

Cornell Chronicle
Each of the selected projects has received a grant of up to $50,000. CTL’s Ignite Innovation Acceleration program is designed to de-risk lab projects during a 12-month period with the goal of helping project teams generate interest in licensing and form startups or industry partnerships.
abstract tech image
Center for Technology Licensing program continues to fund early-stage Cornell lab innovations

Made in USA: Prison Labor Keeps Slavery Legal in 2024

Anderson Jr. stood before the New York State Senate on Feb. 12 to recount his experience working for Corcraft, an entity operating within the New York State Department of Corrections.
Jodi Anderson - NYS Senate Joint Public Hearing
Made in USA: Prison Labor Keeps Slavery Legal in 2024

Empowering Incarcerated Learners Through Debate

The 12-week program equips incarcerated learners with vital debate, public speaking, and critical thinking skills. 
NPDL, CJEI, & cornell speach & debate logo
Empowering Incarcerated Learners Through Debate

ILR School Experts Weigh In at Crime Prevention Lecture

Experts fused theory with practice in a collaborative lecture at Buffalo State University's crime prevention class in November.
law tech
ILR School Experts Weigh In at Crime Prevention Lecture

Silicon Falls: Buffalo Startup Week 2023 Unveils New Collaboration Involving Cornell University and Stanford University

“Buffalo Startup Week provided the perfect platform to introduce the new ‘Silicon Falls’ collaboration with Stanford University,” said Jodi Anderson Jr., director of technological development at Cornell ILR’s Criminal Justice and Employment Initiative (CJEI).
Buffalo Startup Week 2023
Silicon Falls: Buffalo Startup Week 2023 Unveils New Collaboration Involving Cornell University and Stanford University

Unlocking the Potential of Formerly Incarcerated Job Seekers

Timothy McNutt, director of the Criminal Justice and Employment Initiative at the Cornell ILR School, joins host Chris Wofford in studio to help us understand how we can address and correct barriers in employment for formerly incarcerated people.
Cornell keynotes logo
Unlocking the Potential of Formerly Incarcerated Job Seekers

Opportunity Meets Preparation: APPA and CJEI Team Up

The American Probation and Parole Association’s (APPA) 48th Annual Training Institute took place in New York City from August 27-30. The hybrid event included workshops, speaker series, networking opportunities and a successful second-chance job fair supported by Cornell ILR’s Criminal Justice and Employment Initiative (CJEI). 
American Probation and Parole Association’s (APPA) 48th Annual Training Institute
Opportunity Meets Preparation: APPA and CJEI Team Up

Master’s degree student persevered from prison to Ivy League

Cornell Chronicle
After serving two prison terms totaling more than four years, Thomas Jones, master's student in the ILR School, committed to turning his life around – through education and giving back.
MILR student Thomas Jones
Master’s degree student persevered from prison to Ivy League

ILR Hosts Albany Policymakers to Show Impact of State Funding

Representatives from both the NY State legislative and executive branches gathered on the ILR campus on Thursday morning to officially launch the New York at Work annual report.
Ariel Avgar addresses NY State policymakers
ILR Hosts Albany Policymakers to Show Impact of State Funding

Podcast: Objection! You're Fiction - The Shawshank Redemption

Employment redemption in Shawshank – Timothy McNutt, director of ILR’s Criminal Justice and Employment Initiative (CJEI), joins the podcast Objection! You’re Fiction, to discuss the post-prison job prospects in the film The Shawshank Redemption.
Job search ad in newspaper
Podcast: Objection! You're Fiction - The Shawshank Redemption

July Community Safety and Healing Panel Proves Prescient Amid Current Campus Tensions

Although the discussion focused on criminal justice, the panel underscored the universal need to fight injustice with resources and opportunities for employment, economic participation, and meaningful community contributions.
high road discussion
July Community Safety and Healing Panel Proves Prescient Amid Current Campus Tensions

Symposium on Baccalaureate Education in Prison

Education is a potent catalyst for personal transformation and societal progress, yet incarcerated individuals have long faced barriers to accessing quality education. Recognizing the transformative potential of higher learning, specifically for justice-impacted populations, Cornell University organized the Cornell Prison Education Symposium in June at the Statler Hotel’s Amphitheatre. 
Symposium on Baccalaureate Ed in Prison panel
Symposium on Baccalaureate Education in Prison

CJEI: ‘Technology is the Answer’ for Incarcerated Learners at 2023 ASU+GSV Summit

"How do we build the skills and equip justice-impacted individuals with a talent set to prepare them for jobs that are going to lead to social and economic mobility? It's technology," said Jodi Anderson Jr., director of technological innovation at Cornell University’s Criminal Justice and Employment Initiative (CJEI). 
abstract textures
CJEI: ‘Technology is the Answer’ for Incarcerated Learners at 2023 ASU+GSV Summit

CJEI Joins Prison-to-Professionals Job Fair

Combining the might of P2P and CJEI, the job fair brought together hiring and resource partners, leaders with lived experience, as well as service providers to support candidates with justice involvement in their pursuit of meaningful employment. 
P2P zoom
CJEI Joins Prison-to-Professionals Job Fair

'Can You Hear My Voice?' conference offers new ways to think about hiring practices

McNutt shares a new tool, the Yang-Tan Restorative Record, which helps justice-impacted individuals create a more well-rounded picture of their qualifications for employment.
interviews
'Can You Hear My Voice?' conference offers new ways to think about hiring practices

ILO’s 2023 Conference: the 8th for the Regulating for Decent Work Network in Geneva, Switzerland

More than 3,000 justice-involved people, employers, law enforcement personnel and others have received training since 2018 through an ILR program.
Two Black hands holding prison bars
ILO’s 2023 Conference: the 8th for the Regulating for Decent Work Network in Geneva, Switzerland

Unlocking Talent Pools: The Impact of Traditional Hiring Practices on Justice-Impacted Job Candidates

Traditional hiring practices are insufficient, but there is an alternative; this was the mission which brought together thought leaders from ILR and Jobs for the Future (JFF) at the 75th Labor and Employment Relations Association (LERA) conference earlier this month in Detroit, Michigan.
CJEI at LERA conference
Unlocking Talent Pools: The Impact of Traditional Hiring Practices on Justice-Impacted Job Candidates

CAROW Introduces Yang-Tan WorkABILITY Incubator

Cornell Chronicle
Funding from K. Lisa Yang '74 will support innovative applied research projects and foster collaborations across Cornell to address important societal issues linked to work.
K. Lisa Yang
CAROW Introduces Yang-Tan WorkABILITY Incubator

REFORM Alliance Brooklyn Job Fair Event

The inaugural Brooklyn Job Fair at the Barclays Center was not only a significant milestone in cementing CJEI’s commitment to serving NYS justice-impacted residents, but also a momentous event for the communities of NYC.
Jodi Anderson - CJEI job fair
REFORM Alliance Brooklyn Job Fair Event

Empowering Workers is McNutt’s Focus

The director of ILR’s Criminal Justice Employment Initiative teaches job applicants and hiring managers how to get beyond the criminal records that often keep them apart.
portrait of Timothy McNutt
Empowering Workers is McNutt’s Focus

Queensboro Correctional Facility Winter Resource Fair

Timothy McNutt, Esq  participated at the The Queensboro Correctional Facility winter resource fair on Friday, December 9th. The resource fair included employment and educational opportunities, family reunification, parental and child support, housing, health, discharge planning, and substance abuse assistance.
Law scales on desk
Queensboro Correctional Facility Winter Resource Fair

Justice Without Barriers @ Queens Public Library

The Restorative Record project, led by Timothy McNutt, Matthew Saleh, and Jodi Anderson explored connections that can be drawn from experiences of justice-impacted workers to other marginalized workers and how these experiences relate to broader themes of access to work, equity, and economic development.
Handshake
Justice Without Barriers @ Queens Public Library

Roundtable Discussion on Emerging Trends in Work, Labor, and Employment

On November 29, 2022, Cornell ILR, hosted a roundtable discussion on emerging trends in work, labor, and employment at the New York City Conference Center.
HR worker selection
Roundtable Discussion on Emerging Trends in Work, Labor, and Employment

Berkeley Center on Comparative Equality & Anti-Discrimination Law

The CJEI team addressed issues surrounding criminal records, third-party background checks and employment discrimination.
Berkeley Center on Comparative Equality and Anti-Discrimination Law
Berkeley Center on Comparative Equality & Anti-Discrimination Law

CJEI Presentation for Cornell’s Prison Reform and Education Project

Timothy McNutt, Director of the Criminal Justice and Employment Initiative at Cornell ILR, partnered with Cornell’sPrison Reform and Education Project (PREP) in November 2022 to deliver a presentation on the topic of  justice-impacted access to work.
CJEI prep
CJEI Presentation for Cornell’s Prison Reform and Education Project

Criminal Record Education at Tompkins County Jail

Cornell ILR’s Criminal Justice and Employment Initiative offered an employment rights class in partnership with the Tompkins County Sheriff’s Office on October 26, 2022.
Missing alt
Criminal Record Education at Tompkins County Jail

CJEI Joins with NYC Bar Association on Webinar

Webinar covers strategies for formerly incarcerated people's successful reentry into the workforce.
NYC Bar Association
CJEI Joins with NYC Bar Association on Webinar

CJEI and the Yang Tan Institute Welcome Pinkerton Fellow

Pinkerton Fellow Marco Tang. Mr. Tang, a student at CUNY’s John Jay College, will be working for a year with CJEI and YTI in a variety of areas.
John Jay College Exterior
CJEI and the Yang Tan Institute Welcome Pinkerton Fellow

Cannabis Careers for Justice-Impacted

Timothy McNutt, Director of ILR's Criminal Justice and Employment Initiative, participated in the NYS AFL-CIO’s Union Strong Podcast about “Adult-Use Cannabis – Building a new industry from the ground up in a way that will raise revenue, create good union jobs, and address social, racial, and economic equity."
Green
Cannabis Careers for Justice-Impacted