‘Shoulder to shoulder’

Rapping’s passion for reform has proven to be invaluable to both women impacted by incarceration and to the future of Arouet, which hosts its inaugural Fair Chance Employment Symposium, presented by JPMorgan Chase & Co., at the Arizona Biltmore on October 21.

From the day it was founded a decade ago, Arouet’s mission has remained the same: To support women who have been involved in Arizona’s justice system. It began with a single program taught inside the women’s prison at Perryville, intended to empower enrollees and reframe perspectives. The programming has since grown “tenfold just in the past five years,” according to Rapping.

“Now we are running multiple programs in the prison. We’re running a comprehensive opportunity center outside of the prison. And then we have leadership and community-based opportunities for people once they matriculate out of our opportunity center,” Rapping said. “We have a full-fledged program that starts inside, and then we’re saying, ‘When you come outside, we’re going to walk shoulder to shoulder with you and help you with anything that you need. If you are afraid to drive on the highway, you can call us. If you need a food box, you can call us. If you need to understand how your credit score works, you can call us.’

“And then,” Rapping said, “they can choose to become Arouet leaders, they can support other women, and pay it forward.”

Finding jobs with living wages, of course, is the first step. Which is why Rapping and Arouet continue to develop new programming and tools not just for women in the system but also provide guidance to companies across Arizona that want to successfully employ people with a criminal past (known as “fair chance” or “second chance” hiring).

Building a coalition

“There are more job openings than potential applicants, yet there is not equitable access to these opportunities,” said Deanna Murphy, Vice President and Southwest Regional Director of Corporate Responsibility at JPMorgan Chase & Co., the title sponsor of Arouet’s upcoming Fair Chance Employment Symposium. “Alison and the team at Arouet are the conduit between corporations and applicants who may have criminal backgrounds. They are uniquely positioned at the intersection of those who are ready and willing to share their talents and the businesses who need qualified candidates.

“Arouet’s unmatched pre- and post-release programs support women as they tap into their own strengths and successfully reintegrate to make productive contributions in our communities,” Murphy said.

The Arizona Small Business Association (ASBA) and its 3,000-plus members across the state also hope to expand their available workforce and, like Chase and other major corporations that have sought to partner with Arouet, capitalize on the dedication and resourcefulness of those rebounding from a conviction or arrest history. In fact, ASBA’s Growing Opportunities (GO) program, which helps small businesses hire and build internal support systems for employees with criminal records, consulted with Arouet before launching in June.

“Our relationship with Arouet has been a huge benefit to our GO program,” said Emma Lenihan, ASBA’s Director of Program Development. “This was a whole new learning opportunity for us at ASBA, and organizations like Arouet were the people we engaged to maximize the potential of our program.

“Alison,” Lenihan said, “has just been extremely valuable in our growth.”

Of, By & For the Women Arouet Serves

To Rapping, the relationships Arouet has built—and continues building—with the small business community, its corporate partners, policy makers, local media, state legislators and other nonprofits embody the promise Arizona offered when she casually visited the desert nearly 30 years ago.

“We’re really building an innovative, comprehensive model by taking what we’ve learned and increasingly adding to what we do,” Rapping said. “But what is truly, deeply unique about Arouet is that we are designed not to be a transactional nonprofit organization but a community. We want to be a movement. We want to build something that is going to live and have a legacy.

“And that legacy,” Rapping said, “is going to be a community that is created of, by, and for the women we’re serving today.”

To reserve your table at Arouet’s Fair Chance Employment Symposium, presented by JPMorgan Chase & Co., visit www.arouetempowers.org/fairchancesymposium.