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- Hard Time on the Unemployment Line
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- Afi-Odelia E. Scruggs
African American males have a hard time getting jobs. The group's unemployment rate is about twice the national figure. But African American male ex-offenders must jump numerous hurdles: racism, the stigma of a criminal past, and poor social and job skills.
Independent producer Afi Scruggs explores the successes and failures of men who are out of prison, and trying to find work..
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Piece Description
African American males have a hard time getting jobs. The group's unemployment rate is about twice the national figure. But African American male ex-offenders must jump numerous hurdles: racism, the stigma of a criminal past, and poor social and job skills.
Independent producer Afi Scruggs explores the successes and failures of men who are out of prison, and trying to find work..
Transcript
(Voice Over) Ricardo Nims has cleared a hurdle.
(Nims tape) “As luck would have it, I was explaining to one of my relatives and she suggested I give the 211 number a call and see if I could get some help. To make a longer story short, they sent me down here and I came in, walked in, looked around the place. Like Ms. Shepard was saying, I came in like I was surveying the place, but Ms. Shepard didn’t know this, I had already surveyed the place.
(Voice Over) With a new resume and a job coach, he’s searching for work. Nims has spent 7 months looking for a job. But his search was fruitless, and he knew why.
(Ricardo Nims tape)I have a single conviction for felonious assault from 2003 here in Cleveland. I didn’t have anything prior to that; it was just one conviction.
(Voice Over) This is Afi Scruggs and “Hard Time on the Unemployment Line: Job Challenges Facing African American Male Ex...
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