Vick News May Help Other Ex-Offenders

PHILADELPHIA - With Michael Vick being given a second chance at life after his felony conviction, Mayor Michael Nutter's office is receiving a lot of calls about a program that helps ex-offenders get jobs.

The program was announced back in February but it has now gotten some new energy because of Vick.

Deputy Mayor of Public Safety Everett Gillison visited "Good Day Philadelphia" on Monday morning to talk more about the program.

Gillison said Mayor John Street started the program, which was retooled and re-launched in February after a partnership with Goodwill Industries of South NJ and Philadelphia and the Knight Foundation.

The Mayor's Office for the Reentry of Ex-Offenders allows people leaving jails to get skills they need to re-enter the workforce. They can get work by visiting the program's site at 7th and Callowhill streets.

"I remind people that 95 percent of the people who go to jail will come back," Gillison said. "And if we keep them outside of the work environment, all we're doing is building two different societies. We need to make sure that everybody has the opportunity to get back into society and work."

But the companies putting these ex-offenders back to work aren't always interested in the limelight – or any attention at all, for that matter.

"Look, in today's society people – we have gone many, many years, almost 40 years, trying to just punish people and keep people down. Companies are afraid, quite frankly, even when we're offering them $10,000 through a tax credit called PREP to say employ an ex-offender," Gillison said.

"I have up to six companies that are now taking part in that program, but they don't want me to actually let their names be known," he added.

Gillison said he's sure the Eagles are going to partner with them, and he thinks that's great.

"Michael Vick, obviously, has galvanized this discussion – which I think is overdue – that people have to be able to say that there are no disposable human beings and we have to be able to invest in them," Gillison said. "The Eagles, whatever they've done, they've actually understood that Michael Vick did something wrong, it's in the past, we want to focus on what he can do in the future. That's what this mayor wants to do. That's what we've been doing now for the past year-and-a-half."

Gillison also said he believes the participating companies will come forward at some point as community acceptance for what they're doing grows.