The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has issued new rules for how employers may use information about criminal records of applicants and employees when making employment decisions. The EEOC's new "enforcement guidance" document indicates that blanket employment policies that automatically exclude anyone with a criminal record violate Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Employers can continue to conduct criminal background checks, but the new EEOC guidance document spells out important differences between arrest records and conviction records, how employers need to consider each, and urges employers to establish policies based on individual assessment and consideration rather than blanket policies.

A press release summarizing the new EEOC rules is here:

http://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/newsroom/release/4-25-12.cfm

A Q&A document from the EEOC on the new guidance is here:

http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/guidance/qa_arrest_conviction.cfm

And the full Enforcement Guidance document is here:

http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/guidance/arrest_conviction.cfm

The Children of Incarcerated Parents Network of Lancaster County has put together a resource for caregivers of children of incarcerated parents titled "How to Explain Prisons and Jails to Children". This resource is available for free download here 

WHAT ARE "HEALING COMMUNITIES"?

The "Healing Communities" framework is a proven national model for engaging congregations in restoration and healing of individuals and families torn apart by crime, whether committed against a member of the congregation or committed by a member of the congregation.

Building a Healing Community in your congregation can lead to transformation of hearts and minds and the building of relationships that support people. It isn't focused on creating a program but developing a ministry of formal and informal support, volunteer service, networking and advocacy, all drawing from the belief systems and unique strengths of the faith community: acceptance, compassion, forgiveness, redemption and restoration.

Laura Kaeppeler, reigning Miss America 2012, understands the importance of helping children of incarcerated parents because her father served time in prison during her teen years.

Now as Miss America, her platform comes from her personal experience. Ms. Kaeppeler's vision is to help children build stronger relationships with their parents through mentoring programs established for children who have a parent in prison.

And she is coming to Lancaster to share her message, when she will be the Keynote Speaker at Lancaster's 2012 Children of Incarcerated Parents Awareness Conference, sponsored by KON-NECTINGSERVICES, INC. and co-sponsored by Holy Trinity Lutheran Church.

• About 450 offenders are released every month from Lancaster County Prison and return to our local communities.  In addition, roughly 500 formerly incarcerated persons come back annually to Lancaster County from state prisons.

• Mentoring is an integral part of beginning better lives.   Mentors give guidance and demonstrate healthy, trusting relationships in the quest to help offenders navigate the many challenges and opportunities they will face.

• The Lancaster County Re-Entry Management Organization is partnering with Justice & Mercy and Highland Presbyterian Church to offer a new mentoring program, which has been established to facilitate offenders' readjustment to society.

You can demonstrate your own "Faith in Action" by becoming a Community Mentor.