Beyond the Box
Employer Certification
The Beyond the Box Certification (BTB Certification) is obtained by Tompkins County employers who engage in a one-year process in partnership with Ultimate Reentry Opportunity (URO) to become an employer who hires and retains people with past criminal justice system involvement.
In working toward becoming Beyond the Box Certified, the employer commits to more than “banning the box,” or the process of eliminating the check box on job applications that ask candidates about their past criminal history.
Beyond the Box Employer Certification focuses on employer culture shift, outreach and recruitment, hiring, retention, and creating an inclusive workplace environment where all can thrive. The program has been approved for a pilot test funding, and URO is working to secure on-going funding streams.
In 2024, Moosewood Restaurant became URO's first Beyond the Box partner in Tompkins County.
Professor Ian Greer at the Cornell University's School of Labor and Industrial Relations, will study the effectiveness and impact of the pilot program. This data will be incorporated into future BTB Certification revisions.
How Did We Get Here?
It took five years of initiatives, research, working groups, proposals, partnerships and grant funding to define the issue, identify solutions, design an initiative, source a partner, and launch a pilot program.
This is slow, steady work.
Jan 2024
Jan 2024
Pilot Program Study
Pilot Employer
Partnership with IRL School Professor Ian Greer and Thomas Tee Jones, Grad Student in ILR and person with justice system lived experience – agree to fund and develop evaluation of BTB 1 year pilot
URO identifies the revered Moosewood Restaurant in Ithaca, NY, as our first BTB employer.
Sept 2022
Oct 2022
April 2023
Report Findings
Employment Summit
Pilot Funding
Employment Report on Systemic Barriers to Reentry in Tompkins County 2022_FINAL
Key results indicate a lot of stigma and discrimination for job applicants with criminal justice records; decision to focus on creating structure for employers to become reentry friendly employers
URO Reentry Employment Summit Notes 10.4.2022–Important doc for key stakeholders/partners involved in identifying priorities
OTR funding renewed for 2024 Beyond the Box Employment Certification Pilot submitted and funded. Beyond the Box Certification Presentation.pdf This provides the preliminary conceptualization of Beyond the Box Certification process
Spring 2020
Fall 2019
Data Analysis
Qualitative Research
Students assisted with coding and analyzing 54 qualitative interviews; conducting background research.
Undergraduate students conducted 54 interviews with individuals living in Tompkins County who were 18 years or older and previously involved with the criminal justice system (prison and/or jail)
May 2018
Spring 2018
March 2019
Beyond the Box
Networking and Job Fair
Data Development
Working Group
Gino Bush Beyond the Box Reentry Fair
Networking and connecting with local employers and service providers who believe in removing barriers to employment, fair chance hiring practices and eliminating the stigma associated with incarceration. Hosted by the Chamber of Commerce, the Women’s Opportunity Center, Workforce NY, Hospitality Education Training Program, Catholic Charities of Tompkins County, Challenge Workforce Solutions, Opportunities, Alternatives and Resources (OAR), Alternative Credit Union, and Ultimate Reentry Opportunity (URO).
An Engaged Research grant from Cornell University to examine the most prominent systemic barriers to reentry in Tompkins County. Three professors trained 40 undergraduate students at Cornell University (Government Dept) and Ithaca College (Center for the Study of Culture, Race and Ethnicity) in human subject research with vulnerable populations.
Keynote speaker Pres. Shirley Collado of Ithaca College presented Banning the Box to 40 Tompkins County employers. It's a huge opportunity to learn from employer perspectives what barriers to hiring people with past records are.