Breaking Down Barriers: Reentry 2030 States Tackle Employment-Related Collateral Consequences

August 2025

On June 26, the CSG Justice Center convened state leaders in workforce development, education, and corrections from 7 Reentry 2030 states for the second session of the Reentry 2030 Workforce Development Peer Learning Cohort. The session focused on employment-related collateral consequences and policies and strategies for effectively navigating them. 

Employment-related collateral consequences are state laws and regulations that prohibit people with certain convictions from accessing occupational and business licenses and limit employers’ ability to hire otherwise qualified candidates from the justice-involved population. While work has been done across the country to mitigate barriers to employment for people returning from incarceration, hundreds of these laws remain in state statutory and regulatory codes, some of which may have outdated provisions or unintended consequences. 

Cohort participants from Alabama, Arizona, California, Nebraska, New York, North Carolina, and Washington learned about the scope and operation of this complex web of law and regulations and discussed how each state can better prepare the reentering population to navigate them. Topics included the following: 

• The role that agencies and service providers play in informing reentering workers and workforce partners about potential barriers to work  

• How identifying and understanding these barriers can ensure better alignment between programming and service provision and opportunity and success 

• The policies and practices that have been effective at mitigating barriers to work (including certificates of relief and fair chance licensing laws) and the role agencies and stakeholders have in helping reentering workers effectively leverage them    

In state-team breakout sessions, participants discussed targeted approaches for addressing collateral consequences in their states, including opportunities to leverage the National Inventory of the Collateral Consequences of Conviction database to identify relevant laws in their states and the benefits of updating and distilling the information in the inventory into accessible resources that can help training and service providers develop viable industry-specific career pathways. 

The Reentry 2030 Workforce Development Peer Learning Cohort is a year-long opportunity for states that have joined, or are preparing to join, the national Reentry 2030 initiative to learn from one another, collaborate across systems, and strategize and build a shared vision for expanding economic opportunity for people impacted by the justice system. In the remaining sessions, participating states will turn their attention to the following: 

• Work readiness starting the day people get out of prison  

• Expanding and aligning pre- and post-release workforce training with opportunity and labor demand 

• Expanding the field of fair chance employers and establishing training-to-employment pathways in partnership with program providers and employers  

• Using data to track and improve employment and wage outcomes 

Click for more information about the national Reentry 2030 initiative and how your state can join.