Celebrating Second Chance Month and Fair Chance Futures

April is the beginning of what has historically been known as Second Chance Month, and what we are also calling Fair Chance Month!

Fair Chance Month is a time to focus not only on redemption, but on building systems that ensure everyone has equitable access to opportunity. This month, JustLeadershipUSA (JLUSA) and the JustUS Coordinating Council (JCC) are partnering with advocates and community leaders to uplift systems that open doors instead of closing them:

JLUSA and the JCC are partnering with the producers of the “In Their Hands” documentary, which is airing on PBS stations across the nation all month long and on demand at PBS.org and on the PBS app.

We are excited to be participating in the National Returning Citizens Conference in Jacksonville, Florida, next week (April 7-10):

• Wednesday, April 8 at 11:45am — JLUSA board member Kwame Kilpatrick keynoting
• Thursday, April 9 at 10am — JLUSA President/CEO DeAnna Hoskins will be moderating a Returning Citizens Panel
• Thursday, April 9 at 3:15pm — JLUSA team members Lana Mendis and Zach Ruppel will be co-facilitating a workshop entitled “The Cost of a Conviction: Consumer Justice in Reentry”
• other JLUSA alumni leaders will be there speaking, as well!

In addition, we have a series of events happening in Washington, D.C. this month:

• Thursday, April 16 at 9am — Second Chance Month Congressional Briefing on Capitol Hill, presented in collaboration with the Congressional Second Chance Taskforce and the Addiction, Treatment, and Recovery (ATR) Caucus reflecting a bipartisan, federal commitment to reentry. (Invitation only. Not open to the public.)
• Thursday, April 16 at 5pm — JCC Fair Chances Networking Mixer for Capitol Hill staff and partners. (Invitation only. Not open to the public.)
• Friday, April 16-19 — Our inaugural Leading with Conviction+™ cohort will be having its final in-person gathering and graduation! (Not open to the public.)

Finally, the JCC will be holding its next Federal Speakers Series webinar on Tuesday, April 21 at 12pm ET on the topic of “State Advocacy in Action: Minimizing Harm at the State Level From Federal Frameworks to State-Level Reality.” 

If you are organizing criminal justice reform-related events during the month of April, we invite you to please share them with us so we can add them to the national calendar on our #FairChances page of the JCC website.