JPMorgan Chase
THE WAITING WORKFORCE
RAISING AWARENESS FOR THE MILLIONS WAITING FOR A SECOND CHANCE
One in three Americans have a criminal record, and even after they’ve fulfilled their obligations to the justice system, they still face significant barriers to finding meaningful employment. The complex paperwork needed to clear their records keeps millions of people from supporting their families and communities.
To raise awareness for this issue, we created an art installation with JP Morgan Chase and The Glue Society consisting of 38 statues made of the same legal paperwork holding people back. Each statue represents a state that has yet to enact Clean Slate legislation, which would automatically clear the criminal records once they are eligible.
#WaitingWorkforce
The Challenge
1 in 3 Americans have criminal records that they struggle to clear, which makes finding meaningful employment difficult. Clean Slate legislation can help people bypass costly and complex expungement paperwork, by automatically clearing eligible records. But 38 states have yet to pass it. How do we call attention to this?
the execution
We based the installation in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - where Clean Slate legislation was passed first. To convey the scale of the issue, we used 1.8 million pages of real expungement paperwork to build The Waiting Workforce and educate the public about the issue and solution before us.
the idea
JPMorgan Chase, supporter of Second Chance initiatives, commissioned an art installation comprised of 38 statues representing the Waiting Workforce in these states, and made out of the very expungement paperwork holding them back.
the film
We created a film that shows real people who’ve experienced the expungement process witness the unveiling of the statues as they give insight into their stories.
