Hannah Chimowitz
2:15:39
Thank you, Chair, Dela Rosa, and committee members for the you need to testify.
2:15:43
My name is Hannah Jim Woods, and I'm a senior researcher and policy analyst for the National Employment Law Project, or Nelp, a New York based national nonprofit that's been fighting for workers' rights for 55 years.
2:15:56
Nelp is a leading authority on fair chance hiring, working closely with advocates and policymakers to reduce barriers to employment for people with arrest or conviction records.
2:16:07
We strongly support the Construction Justice Act.
2:16:11
Construction is one of few industries where people with records can find work.
2:16:15
Around 1 and 4 recently incarcerated people who find employment work in construction.
2:16:21
This bill will ensure that residents of night to developments and neighborhoods with higher poverty rates will have access to construction jobs with good wages and essential benefits.
2:16:32
Due to a public housing to prison pot pipeline that fuels racialized economic inequality in the city, incarceration rates and census tracks with nitrile developments are 4.6 times higher than a non nitrile neighborhoods, despite similar crime rates.
2:16:49
As these residents are disproportionately impacted by the criminal legal system.
2:16:54
This bill provides an opportunity to help break the cycle of criminalization and financial instability.
2:17:01
People with records face major obstacles to securing good jobs.
2:17:05
Conditions of probation and parole can also drive desperation and create intense pressure for workers to accept any job they can find no matter how unsafe or underpaid.
2:17:17
This bill will help ensure that cities is labor of exploited workers.
2:17:24
This bill provides a pathway to good construction jobs for workers and communities that have been both historically marginalized in the labor market and targeted by the criminal legal system.
2:17:35
For these reasons, Yelp strongly urges the counsel to pass the Construction Justice Act.
2:17:40
Thank you for your attention and consideration.
