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SAN BERNARDINO - About
60 people who once were behind bars climbed over that tough obstacle Thursday
to find work at a Spirit of Love Church job fair.
The gravity of the
jobless situation here was underscored by the hundreds of unemployed former
inmates turned away after the organizers, expecting a thousand or fewer
applicants, brought only that many drug-test kits and were forced to shut down
two hours early at the church on Base Line.
The long line of job
seekers wound its way around Base Line and into a Westside neighborhood.
"It's been pretty
hard if you've got a felony record," Augustine Medina, 34, of Highland,
said. "It's been up and down. Sometimes I get temporary jobs."
Medina said he served
time at Tehachapi State Prison after being convicted on a charge of possession
of a controlled substance.
He said he's been free
for about a year, but work is hard to come by when he has to admit on job
applications that he has done time.
"I fill them out
and nothing happens for me. Mostly because of my record," Medina said.
Medina and the others
were trying to find an employer who would be willing to look beyond their
criminal pasts and give them a chance at earning a paycheck.
All of Us or None, an
advocacy group for former prisoners, organized Thursday's job fair to help
ex-convicts find work, but the number looking for work far outnumbered the jobs
available.
The job fair was
scheduled to be open from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., but the gates closed around noon
after the last drug test kits were used.
Job seekers were
required to take a drug test before they could meet with prospective employers.
"It's just a huge
statement of the need," Kim Carter said. "People want to go to work.
If they can get a job they can stay clean and get out of trouble."
Carter said fair
organizers scoured city and county databases and mailed 60,000 letters to
potential employers in hope of finding businesses willing to give convicted
felons another chance.
Nine organizations set
up booths.
Bloomington Recycling
was one of the companies that came to the job fair. Human resources
representative Griselda Gonzalez said the recycling plant needs forklift
operators, drivers and other laborers.
"They're the best
people to work with because they have an opportunity to have a job,"
Gonzalez said of the job fair's job applicants
Volunteers offering hot
dogs, chips and water broke the bad news to the many job seekers who didn't get
to meet prospective employers.
"Be nice. Smile.
Let them know it will be OK," Carter called out to those who had the
unenviable task of turning away those who were still in line.
Volunteers collected
contact information from the people who were left standing outside the gates.
Carter said they will be
invited to a future job fair, but she doesn't know when that will be since
there's no funding available for a second event.
Of the hundreds who
looked for work Thursday, Carter said 64 people found jobs.
Helen Johnson, who said
she served 8<MD+,%30,%55,%70>1/<MD-,%0,%55,%70>2 months in various
institutions after a petty theft conviction, landed a job as a braider at
Clippers Family Cuts, a San Bernardino salon.
She had been out of work
since her release about a year ago.
"I feel
great," she said. "I've been doing hair all my life. It's something I
love doing. Finally, God blessed."
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