Ohio construction company puts felons to work

Phil Trexler

AKRON, Ohio — It wasn’t long ago that William Loftin found himself inside an Akron coffee shop armed with a cigarette lighter shaped like a gun.

Unemployed and desperate, Loftin went to work on his very first heist. It turned out to be his last day on the job; the police were poised nearby.

And for a couple of bucks he never spent, he got four years in prison.

When he came home last year, Loftin, 31, found himself back on the streets of Akron, broke again, but looking for a different line of work.

He got some interviews, but the promised call-back never came. It doesn’t look so good when you check the box asking about felony convictions, especially one for robbery.

“They acted like they’re cool with it and they’ll call you in a few days, but they never called,” Loftin said. “I found it was actually harder for me coming out than it was in prison, at least when it came to a job.”

One company found Loftin to be a perfect fit: Felons for Hire, an upstart Akron construction company that goes beyond nails and hammers.

Parked outside a Garth Avenue work site sits a 1992 GMC Yukon. A magnetic sign on the door shouts the arrival of Greg Jacobs’ work crew: Loftin and about a half-dozen others, some felons, others just in need of work.

The felons for hire on this crew say they are not into drugs or robberies. They’re into shingles and siding and plumbing and drywall.

Felons for Hire is designed to turn ex-convicts legitimate. It comes with some strings attached: job training, counseling, anger management classes and drug testing.

The company is the brainchild of Jacobs, 55, a self-described hustler. He came up with the idea, not coincidentally, during his 18-month stint in a federal prison for tax violations. He was released in June 2005.

For years, he said, he saw how economics fed the crime rate.

Jacobs runs Felons for Hire out of a cold and battered storefront on Akron’s southeast side. Next door is the nonprofit boxing gym he runs, Boxers Against Drugs. A six-bed rooming house is close by for workers in need of a place to sleep between shifts.

Jacobs, with one leg and just one good eye, said he is a hustler when it comes to his business. With his crutches under his arms, he’s tireless and determined. During a conversation, his cell phone rings often with calls from prospective workers or clients.

He wants a piece of the construction business in Akron and with a crew like his, he said, he must underbid his competition to win the job. Last summer’s hail storm proved to be a godsend for his fledgling endeavor, giving his company a couple dozen roofing and siding jobs.

His repeat customers include a teacher, a city councilman and area businessmen. Based on his early success, Jacobs said, he is looking to expand his business south to Atlanta, Ga. In March, a new class will begin and waterproofing will be part of the curriculum.

At the Garth Avenue work site, he speaks with the passion of a minister when he says he wants to end the cycle of crime and incarceration that he’s witnessed over the years.

“It’s a curse worse than cancer the way it spreads,” Jacobs said. “It’s a vicious piece of jelly. If a man can’t get employment, he’ll get it by any means necessary.

“That’s what I saw when I came out of prison. People struggling to find jobs and housing. And that’s what we’re trying to fix. The main thing is coming together as a whole [to] stop the crime rate from going up. You do that by giving a man a job.”

According to the state, about one-third of the 27,000 inmates released in a given year will return to prison within three years. Studies have shown that economics plays a big part in terms of who stays out and who goes back. Ex-cons who find work are half as likely to commit crimes as those who do not.

The problem, some offenders said, is finding a company willing to hire a felon. Part of the mission of Jacobs’ company is to remove the negative mind-set of those returning from prison.

“There is no pity club here,” Jacobs said. “We offer a job, we offer hope and we offer a future.”

At Felons for Hire, applicants must commit to an apprenticeship program. For about four months, the worker is given a $75 allowance every week. Some, if there is a need, are offered housing for $50 a week.

Jacobs and other ex-cons offer skill training and counseling, sometimes food and clothing. On staff are “King” James Williams, 62, a convicted drug trafficker, and Martin Rosa, 40, who served 17 years for shooting a police officer in New York. Rosa counsels the workers; Williams helps wherever he can with rides, food and advice. The company operates on its own with no government aid or grants.

Last October, Felons for Hire graduated its first class of seven, which included Loftin. They are now paid $10 an hour for their labor, and they’ve got a second chance.

“My outlook has changed. I’ve lived that fast lifestyle. I’ve been to prison and I don’t want to go back,” Loftin said. “It’s been hard. They say once you get out, you get a second chance. But it’s not that simple.”

Akron Ward 5 Councilman James Shealey and Akron teacher Bobby Jackson are Felons for Hire customers. The company has done roofing, siding and plumbing on their houses.

Both confess some apprehension about hiring a construction company with felons on the letterhead as well as the payroll. But the company’s bids came in well below other estimates, the work was done well and Shealey and Jackson say they believe in second chances.

“The way we were taught, if a person has a felony behind their name, you have to be leery about trusting them,” said Jackson, an owner of several rental properties, who met Jacobs while waiting at a home improvement store last year. “But everyone deserves a second shot at a positive situation and to become a productive contributor.”

Shealey met Jacobs at a community center, where the businessman came to promote his company to residents. Jacobs talked about the training he can offer from his 30-plus years in construction and the counseling he and other felons on his staff can give through life experience.

As chairman of the council’s public safety committee and an inner-city schoolteacher, Shealey said, he understands the value of a job and its economic and crime-rate impact.

“We have to have programs like this. We have to retrain people, we have to train people. They have to have some way of making a dollar,” Shealey said. “If we don’t, we pay for it in the end. They become predators again in the community. It’s that simple.”

(The Akron, Ohio, Beacon Journal)