Articles & News

August 4, 2008

City holding job fair today for ex-offenders

By Tom Spalding
tom.spalding@indystar.com

Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard's effort to help ex-offenders includes a two-day employment fair that begins today on the main campus of Ivy Tech.

About 5,000 ex-offenders re-enter Indianapolis and Marion County every year.

Helping them get a new job is one way to ensure that they will become productive members of the community and not return to state prison or county jail, city officials said in a news release.

"We want to give them the tools so that even if they don't come away with a job, ex-felons can come away knowing that their felonies do not define them," Ballard said in the release.

The Ballard administration recently named Indianapolis Colts Coach Tony Dungy to chair Indianapolis' ex-offender re-entry effort.

IndyGo donated bus passes.