Special to The Truth<\/p>\n
The Ohio Justice and Policy Center (OJPC) applauded Gov. Mike DeWine this week for signing House Bill 268, a new law that will modify the waiting period for individuals with felony convictions to apply for a Certificate of Qualification for Employment (CQE).<\/p>\n
CQEs help people overcome legal barriers to get a job or occupational license once they leave prison. \u201cThis is great news. This new law gives formerly incarcerated people new hope for the opportunity to work and begin contributing to their communities sooner rather than later. They can apply for a Certificate of Qualification for Employment one year after their release. This is a giant step forward in reforming our criminal justice system that benefits everyone in our society,” said Gabe Davis, chief executive officer for the Ohio Justice & Policy Center.<\/p>\n
“We knocked down walls to housing, and now we are helping formerly incarcerated individuals break down barriers to a good job. We know the chances to make it for people after leaving prison are so dependent on their opportunity to find a good job and good housing. There is still more work to be done, but we believe HB 268 will help more people return to their communities in helpful ways instead of returning to prison,” said Michaela Burriss, policy director for the Ohio Justice & Policy Center.<\/p>\n
The Ohio Justice and Policy Center is a 501(c)3 nonprofit law firm with offices in Cincinnati. Cleveland, and Columbus, Ohio. We fight for equal justice and fair treatment in all stages of incarceration, because every person deserves dignity after their conviction and freedom after their sentence. To learn more about our work and our ongoing initiatives, visit https:\/\/ohiojpc.org\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Special to The Truth The Ohio Justice and Policy Center (OJPC) applauded Gov. Mike DeWine this week for signing House Bill 268, a new law that will modify the waiting period for individuals with felony convictions to apply for a Certificate of Qualification for Employment (CQE). CQEs help people overcome legal barriers to get a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[252],"tags":[],"wf_post_folders":[365],"class_list":["post-20783","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20783","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20783"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20783\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20784,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20783\/revisions\/20784"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20783"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=20783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}