A long line stretched from a legal-aid booth Saturday during the Rights After Wrongs event, where more than two dozen organizations were helping ex-convicts make the most of a second chance.
In that line at St. Mark Baptist Church in Little Rock was Daniel Farmer, with his service dog, Grace, at the end of a leash. Farmer is a disabled Army veteran from Fort Smith who is in Little Rock to find work. On Saturday, he also was looking for legal advice related to a charge of terroristic threatening that he faces.
"I'm trying to find out if I should take this plea deal or what," he said. His public defender "said if we go to trial it's very likely I'll go to prison, and I don't want to do that. But at the same time I don't want a felony conviction on my record."
Farmer also was getting help with his resume Saturday, "because I stink at that kind of stuff," he said. Farmer is a musician -- a saxophonist, a clarinetist, and flutist -- aiming to one day land gigs as a private instructor.
"I can teach you how to play a clarinet all day long," he said.
Designed to be a one-stop-shop for those with criminal convictions, the Rights After Wrongs event provided resume assistance, job leads, legal assistance, educational opportunities, tax services and housing help.
In one room, representatives from the Arkansas Department of Workforce Services helped people construct resumes, while in another people met with potential employers for brief interviews, resumes in hand. The Little Rock Fire Department, Rock Solid Restoration and Construction, J&M Transportation and other companies held interviews with dozens of job seekers.
"I tell people, don't be discouraged. It's hard getting a job even for people with stellar backgrounds and no blemishes. That's just part of being in the job market," said Ericka Benedicto, diversity manager for Little Rock.
The event was organized and facilitated by the city, the Central Arkansas Re-Entry Coalition and the Urban League of Arkansas. Legal groups like Arkansas Legal Services and the Open Access law firm offered help with expunging records, assistance with warrants and counseling with a criminal attorney.
Attorneys, including Mayor Mark Stodola, sat at a table going over court documents with former convicts.
"If they're eligible to get their records expunged, we'll be preparing petitions for expungement that will allow them to go ahead and file those in the courts," Stodola said. "It's really an opportunity for people to get back on the right foot."
"These services can be obtained throughout the year, but it just doesn't happen every day where you get all these organizations all in the same spot at one time," he said.
The Arkansas Community Organization helped people file taxes and helped connect people with affordable housing; Shorter College provided information on obtaining an associate degree; the Arkansas Time After Time organization connected people on the sex-offender registry with legal or counseling services.
"I go to the prison and I speak to the people who are on the sex-offender treatment program, and I try and give them hope," said Robert Combs, founder of Arkansas Time After Time. "I try and say there is life after prison, and you can survive on the registry."
In all, about 400 people showed up at Saturday's event, according to a rough preliminary count by the organizers.
There was no immediate count of how many people found jobs, but Benedicto said the city will check back in with the participating employers to determine how many people were hired from the event.
Metro on 01/15/2017