At Chrysalis, we work with individuals who have been impacted by systemic barriers to quality employment by providing resources and support needed to find and keep a job. We also recognize that we have an obligation to help break down those systemic barriers by contributing to the creation of equitable systems and hiring practices in our communities, so that everyone has the opportunity to work and thrive.

Over the years, Chrysalis has steadily provided our organization’s knowledge and support to advocacy efforts. We are looking forward to finding new ways to share information with our community about what we are following and the conversations in which we are including our voice and expertise. For this post in our newsroom, we have compiled a brief list of local, state, and federal policies and bills on which we have been working during the first half of the year.

Over the past several months, in partnership with a range of organizations and collaboratives working to address employment, homelessness, and reentry, Chrysalis has signed on in support of legislative and budget initiatives at the local, state, and federal levels. Here is a list of some of the efforts we are watching:

County of Los Angeles

  • LA:RISE & Measure H: Chrysalis encourages the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors to fully fund LA:RISE via Measure H; now is the time to invest in workforce development and employment programs, which are both essential to our community’s pandemic recover and vital to the County’s goal to end homelessness.
    Resource Link: LA:RISE Flyer

State of California

  • AB 71 (L. Rivas)-Bring California Home Act: establishes a dedicated ongoing state investment in long-term solutions to homelessness
    Resource Link: Follow @BringCAHome on Twitter
  • AB 333 (Kamlager)-The Step Forward Act: amends the state penal code relating to criminal gangs and thus, begins to address the harm caused by the widespread and indiscriminate use of gang enhancements in sentencing – a primary driver of the mass incarceration of BIPOC
    Resource Link: AB 333 Fact Sheet
  • AB 717 (Stone)-Prisoners: Identification Cards: ensures provision of an ID or driver’s license for eligible individuals upon release from a state or federal correctional facility or a county jail
  • SB 424 (Durazo) & AB 675 (Bloom)-California Homeless Hiring Tax Credit: creates access to meaningful employment and pathways to careers for individuals experiencing homelessness by offering tax credits to employers of eligible individuals
  • SB 678 (Rubio)-Unaccompanied Women Experiencing Homelessness Act: makes California the first state in the nation to recognize unaccompanied women as a distinct population in order to improve the state’s ability to design programs and strategies to address their specific needs
    Resource Link: SB 678 Press Release from the Downtown Women’s Center
  • SB 679 (Kamlager)-Our Future Coalition: creates a single affordable housing solutions agency for Los Angeles County modeled after the Bay Area Housing Finance Authority
    Resource Link: Our Future LA website
  • SB 731 (Durazo)-Sunsetting Criminal Records Act: implements a comprehensive system to seal criminal and arrest records
  • SB 779 (Becker)-California Workforce Innovation Opportunity Act: adds “Employment Social Enterprise” and worker coop language to the California WIOA to encourage Local Workforce Development Boards to partner with innovative work models that support those with barriers to employment
  • Chrysalis has also signed on in support of the creation of a Statewide Reentry Workforce Services Fund as part of the Governor’s budgeted proposal to fund workforce development. An inclusive and equitable recovery must include targeted workforce investments for people returning home from incarceration.

Federal

  • COVID Relief and Recovery Funding: Chrysalis encourages the inclusion of targeted relief funding that includes homelessness and housing investments ($32 billion was allocated for homelessness assistance, emergency rental assistance, and emergency housing vouchers in the COVID Relief Bill passed by Congress in March), as well as workforce development investments in subsidized and transitional employment programs and employment services for the reentry population.
  • RESET for America’s Future Act: provides new resources for state and local governments through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Employment and Training (SNAP E&T) program, including increased federal reimbursements for job training programs
  • Social Innovation Fund: Chrysalis strongly supports the re-establishment of the federal Social Innovation Fund, a project that ran from 2009-2016 and provided vital investments in nonprofits nationwide to foster economic opportunity, healthy futures, and youth development.