The National H.I.R.E. Network monitors and provides leadership on key public policy initiatives to promote the employment of people with criminal records. We conduct advocacy at both the federal level with the U.S. Congress and the Administration and at the state level.

• To balance public safety and promote the reintegration of people coming home from prison.
  
• To increase employment opportunities available to people who are struggling to successfully reintegrate and remain crime-free.
  
• To encourage employers to make individualized determinations about a person’s specific qualifications, including the relevance of a criminal record, rather than having flat bans against hiring people with criminal records.

Our key advocacy priorities include:

• Supporting, expanding and strengthening programs proven effective in promoting the employment of people with criminal records.
• Providing support and financial incentives to employers who hire qualified men and women with criminal records.
• Prohibiting employers from using information about arrests that did not lead to conviction.
• Eliminating laws that categorically ban qualified people with a criminal record from employment.
• Promoting anti-discrimination policies that require employers to make individualized determinations about a job applicant’s specific qualifications.
• Promoting sealing and expungement of arrests that did not lead to conviction or resulted in minor or no longer relevant convictions.