Tardibono: Workforce receives second chances through fair chance hiring

Hank Atone, Inventory and Audit Supervisor for M-D Building Products, grew up in south Oklahoma City with a loving and supportive family. When Atone turned 15, his story took a turn no one saw coming.

"I started getting into a little trouble around 15," Atone said. "It turned to drugs really fast, really quickly." His struggles with substance abuse led to multiple jail stays and, ultimately, a prison sentence.

After being released from prison, Atone got clean and became involved in the Exodus House ministry. Exodus House is a branch of Criminal Justice and Mercy Ministries striving to offer ex-offenders opportunities to have a healthy, nurturing and accountable environment where they can comfortably reenter the workforce and begin life again.

“It opened a lot of doors for me,” Atone said. “It showed me that my past wasn't going to define who I was going to be in the future.”

Atone’s recovery at Exodus House led him to be hired at M-D Building Products , a privately owned domestic manufacturing company dedicated to maintaining higher standards of quality control, responding faster to changing market conditions and meeting customer demand with greater speed and efficiency. M-D Building Products gave Atone the opportunity to grow and meet his career goals through fair chance hiring.

Fair chance hiring offers previously incarcerated individuals an opportunity to find a job without having their criminal history as a barrier. Employers who practice fair chance hiring allow the candidate to interview if they are qualified for the position. Partnering with one of the many programs in Oklahoma County like Exodus House gives employers an added screening process. The programs work with the employee before they are hired to make them workforce ready, which benefits both the employer, the employee as well as our community.

Atone has quickly become a leader in the workplace.

“Even if I took my personal story out of it and I look through it from a leadership standpoint, hiring fair chance employees, I've seen a lot of times, they're more hungry, they want to do right and work hard,” Atone expressed.

Often employers see higher retention rates, lower employee turnover and greater loyalty when hiring a fair chance individual. Giving those who are formerly justice-involved a second chance at a job helps them pay the bills, support families and gives them a career to be passionate about. It ensures their criminal history doesn’t define them.

“When you're in prison, you kind of think you're only going to be able to do fast food or you know, just low-level jobs,” Atone said. “When I got out, I got here [M-D Building Products], I saw opportunity. After just a couple months, I was already getting promoted and I started to realize that there are way more people than you think cheering you on. You're not limited to anything!”

Visit the Oklahoma County Criminal Justice Advisory Council’s YouTube page to watch Hank Atone’s video and learn more about fair chance hiring and how it impacts lives.

Timothy Tardibono is the executive director of the Oklahoma County Criminal Justice Advisory Council .

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