i think there is a lot you can do. the world is also increasingly normal so increasingly what you do today, what you build, what you say can reverberate not just in this room but around the world. i look forward to the impact you are going to have on women in tech and indians all over. >> your work at aei is helping the world, yes it is. she has given back. i want to thank all of you for joining us and invite all of you to join me in thanking sheryl

sandberg. [applause] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> sunday democratic presidential candidate hillary

clinton speaks that the mayor's conference in indianapolis. we have live coverage of her remarks beginning at 4:00 pm eastern and later c-span's conversation with democratic presidential candidate bernie sanders. you can see that at 6:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. eastern on c-span. >> this is something not only what i love to do but something that could be really different from the kinds of books that have been written in the past and a way to rethink and reevaluate who this person was, what his real significant was, what his virtues really were that made him one of the most adored and age-related figures in american history and what were his flaws and the things that made him in many ways hated by millions of people. >> sunday night and q and a,

arthur herman looks at the life and career of douglas macarthur in his book douglas macarthur, american warrior. >> that is one of the things about macarthur. he saw the future more often than he saw the present. whether it was america's role in asia, the rise of china, the split between china and the soviet union which he foresaw. also the fate of american domestic politics. >> sunday at 8:00 eastern on c-span's q&a. attorney general loretta lynch and secretaries of labor, housing and education talk about challenges facing formerly incarcerated people when they reenter society. this is an hour. [applause]

>> good morning, welcome to the center for american progress. my name is carmel martin, it is my honor to welcome you to this exciting event. our lineup today is a testament to the importance of this issue. nearly one in three americans have criminal records which create barriers to employment, housing, education and many other pathways to opportunity. some americans with criminal records are barred from casting a ballot denying the right to participate in our democracy. the impact of these barriers are well beyond those previously convicted of a crime. criminal records are family sentences. nearly half of american children

now have a parent with a criminal record. the study has shown the barriers associated with criminal records can lead to worse life outcomes. by eliminating these barriers and providing tools for people with criminal records, we can increase the likelihood they will remain crime free and we can put stability and success within reach of them and their families. we continue to raise awareness about these issues. we join groups across the political spectrum. we have been lucky to have such a steadfast partner in president obama. over the last eight years the obama administration including our guests this morning has led in a new direction on criminal justice issues. over the course of his two terms in office president obama has done more than the past we for

presidents combined. in 2013 the department of justice launched the smart on crime initiative, to strengthen protection for vulnerable populations and work with local and state law enforcement agencies to build trust in the community and develop smarter and more efficient tools to ensure public safety. this morning the administration is announcing more important steps for formerly incarcerated individuals at assure a second chance for people with criminal records and their families but this work is far from finished. our broken system continues to devastate communities across the country. critical legislation remains in limbo on capitol hill. everyday congress fails to take action more american families are swept into a vicious cycle of poverty and mass incarceration. with bipartisan support on these issues, there is a unique window of opportunity to make

meaningful progress and build a fairer and more effective justice system. it is a privilege to be joined by four of the nation have strongest champions of criminal justice reform. attorney general loretta lynch, thomas perez secretary of housing and urban development julian castro and secretary of education john king. there leadership is criminal to the progress of the administration on these issues and we are honored to have them. the conversation will be led by daryl atkinson, advisor to the bureau of justice and a member of the interagency council and the first ever second chance fellow at the department of justice. prior to joining doj he was senior attorney at the 7 coalition of social justice where he focused on criminal justice reform issues and was honored as a champion of change at the white house.

we are thrilled to have all of them here. without further ado. [applause] >> thank you for that warm introduction. i want to thank the center for american progress for hosting this important conversation. it is a real experience for me, that would be an understatement. sitting on this stage with four cabinet officials talking about issues, a real bucket list moment if you will for me. what really makes it even more surreal is 20 years ago i couldn't have envisioned having this conversation with you all. 40 years ago i was beginning to serve a 10 year sentence in the department of corrections for a first-time nonviolent drug crime. i went into the department of corrections with a high school diploma and came out with a high

school diploma. the state of alabama was not as progressive as other states in postsecondary education opportunities so i languished for 3-halfmac years. i had a loving family who wrapped their arms around me, offered food, clothing and shelter to address the most immediate pressures and make some rational choices, go back to school, get my education, get my law degree, develop a practice area focused on restoration of human and civil rights of people who have been in contact with the system. now i get to share the stage with you all. it has been a remarkable journey, but i want to emphasize that i don't consider myself exceptional at all. pretty ordinary. only thing that separates me from the 600,000 people i release every year from state and federal prison, the other 10 to 12 million who cycle in and

out of local county jails and 70 million people with criminal records is i had access to extraordinary opportunities. opportunities to remake my life. what we are about to talk about today is steps your agencies are taking to expand those opportunities to more americans so we can have more success stories. let's get to it. i start with the attorney general, my boss. we know that the integration, reduction of recidivism is a multidimensional issue. not only do people need access to employment but they need somewhere to live. might need identification, might need connection to mental health where they can stay on top of their medication. these span multiple agencies.

has reentry counsel facilitated cross agency collaboration? how will that continue once there are new people in the seats? >> excellent question that really goes to the core of what reentry is all about. one of the things whether we are sitting at justice or working in the field have long realized when we looked at reentry was the impact of the justice system on didn't of -- individuals with multifaceted and multilayered and therefore when we talk about reentry the response needed to be multifaceted and multilayered. a lot of us started out looking at these issues years ago when i was a us attorney under janet reno, a huge priority of hers. we looked at it from the position of what did the justice department do? there is a lot we can do but the impact of what we already set in

place, incarceration and other measures extends far beyond justice. the reentry counsel has been one of the most successful collaborations in washington and i think it is because there is a group of agencies and i'm tremendously proud every agency on this stage is represented as well as several others that put aside their main desire to be the leader and said what can we do together? how can we look at the impact of the criminal justice system on individuals in a multifaceted multilayered role and what can we do to impact that? what are some basic things we can do to move reentry down the line and make it real for people? it is a combination of agencies who use their policy power, the policy power and instinctive all the people who work for us.

our connections to the field. it has been a very successful collaboration. some of the things that have come out of it are talking about barriers to reentry and the logistical issues there. with respect to finding a job. everyone agrees finding a job is one of the highest barriers to successful reentry, someone being able to truly come home and reintegrate in society. when you talk to individuals one of the main complaints people have. we had this discussion for years is the inability to get in the door. the inability even to get the interviews sometimes. maybe we'll get the job, maybe you won't but the ability to compete for it. in order to compete you have to be allowed in the arena. you have to be allowed in the room. the eeoc has proposed an initiative that the federal government has been tremendously proud to lead on, that is

something that will be adopted not only statewide but throughout a number of industries. a number of industries have signed a pledge to do so. that has been tremendously helpful. gathering all of that has invigorated the discussion. it certainly has given me tremendous inspiration. i talked to secretary perez about how we are going to work for people. i talked to secretary castro and king about housing and education and the things you have done over the years, looking at these issues. my predecessor, ag holder wrote to every state governor and asked them to think about collateral consequences of incarceration. i was tremendously proud to write a letter to all the governors during reentry week and say it is a state identification issue. the reentry counsel outlined as a real problem and through a collaborative process the way to

do that is one of those things where you think why didn't people think of this before, one of the things once it is up and running is so successful and the idea that what we need to do is get federal prison ids exchanged for state ids or let them be part of the process of a state id but that is a tremendous barrier to reentry. we don't have identification and can't get into a government building, you can't get government services, you can't even get a library card if you can't show who you are or where you live. all the little things people take for granted generate tremendous obstacles for people coming out of the criminal justice system. in particular individuals who may not have been incarcerated but have been in the system in some way, left visible. it is a pervasive problem. we are getting a very positive

response on the issue of allowing federal ids to be used, state ids or part of the process, something we are looking forward to doing more initiatives like that on is an incredibly positive collaboration. president obama made it a standing federal agency level initiative. it will live on. all of us on stage, it will live on campus, primarily because of the thought behind it are not going to be stopped. we are at a point the numbers alone tell us with the numbers of people coming out of federal prison, state prison but all those numbers are people. they represent a real person. we are ready point where many of us are going to know individuals have been in contact with the criminal justice system through our work, through our friends,

our family, and we will see firsthand the challenges that they face so i think this initiative won't stop because the thoughts behind it are not going to stop. >> thank you for that. secretary perez, part of the mission of the department of labor is frankly to put people to work, right? we know people who had contact with a, justice system, 70 million americans, when in 3 have either an arrest or conviction record associated with their name and this can present tremendous challenges. what steps are the part of labor taking to make sure these people have a fresh start and get back to work? >> one of the best ways to reduce repetitive -- recidivism is get people the skills to compete when they are coming out of prison and get them a job right away. one of the major tools we use is grantmaking authority. we have been doing this in a more coordinated fashion.

i think one of the things the president said from day one, some of the most challenging problems confronting america require effective and sustainable resolutions, unprecedented levels of interagency collaboration. we have imploded a big sandbox of opportunity. just yesterday we announced $64 million of grants and they are going to various organizations, some very recognizable nonprofits, some are local workforce systems, community colleges, some are going to help adults, some will help juveniles and they are all predicated around the principle of partnership, making sure we are all in this together so we can build on models that we know already work in communities across the country to make sure people have the opportunity to succeed.

another aspect of our grandmaking is we have been going, yesterday we awarded for grants to this effect, that is to build one stop employment centers behind the fence. i had the privilege of serving local government in montgomery county, maryland, one of the first in the country to have a center in the montgomery county jail and if you talk to the warden he will tell you it was win-win when. it made us all safer because we were able to give people opportunities, you went into jail with a high school degree and came out with a high school degree. that is not happening in montgomery county. giving them access to opportunity, this program has taken off. 30 jurisdictions across the country are interested in this so our grantmaking authority has been a very important part.

a bully pulpit is also important because there are so many employers out there who understand hiring people who have a criminal history is not an act of charity but enlightened self-interest. go to the largest private employer in maryland, johns hopkins, a good hospital, to state the obvious and the most prolific employer, folks with a criminal history. ron peterson, the soon-to-be retiring president will tell you that it is an act of enlightened self-interest, not an act of charity and he will tell you they have measured this, folks who have a criminal history working at hopkins stay longer. they are up and down and all around the ecosystem. allied health prevention, all around the food chain and it is the right thing to do and the

smart thing to do so a big part of what we are doing is lifting up these employers who are doing well and that in turn helps other employers who are thinking about it but they have issues and when they have questions we are always nonjudgmental. we here periodically this person has a conviction. i'm a little worried about hiring him or her. we have a tool in our toolbox in the workforce to help that. a surety box, we will assure you against that risk if something happens. we don't think it will happen. the workforce system itself has built a lot of tools because i firmly believe one of the basic tenets of workforce development in this country is take the job seeker where you find them. we have a lot of people who have day care barriers to employment so we provide day care, transportation barriers and we

need people who have a criminal history and we take them and i said this when we came in. we are a nation of second chances and i believe in second chances and i must confess that i have a serious ambivalence about the use of the term second chance because i have met so many people who have your story and for so many of them there wasn't the first chance. i continue to noodle over what we call this because in so many cases the work we have been able to do in baltimore city we need to do because i meet so many people, that is what we have to do. >> thank you for that. secretary castro, you heard a

critical role of stable and secure housing. many people struggle with that particularly folks who may have had substance abuse or behavioral health issues evolving into chronic homelessness and touching a number of different crises whether it is emergency rooms, psychiatric hospitals, prisons, that has a huge human toll on them individually and a huge public cost. one imminent practice we found to be successful, can you detail steps hud is taking in amplifying permanent supportive housing? >> first of all thank you very much for moderating this. my kudos to you for using your talents and your experience to

motivate others to make their lives productive. and all of my colleagues, particularly -- the attorney general, fantastic work. what you see here as the secretary mentioned as well what is happening in the obama administration in an unprecedented way, fantastic across-the-board collaboration that i think it is part of your earlier question of this administration. we believe housing is a vital part of effective second chance in life. what you hear here are two

things. number one, all things are connected. secondly what you see out there in the united states is there is a cycle that develops for people, those who have been involved in the criminal justice system and reentering are at higher risk for homelessness and higher risk for getting back into the criminal justice system so the question becomes what policies can we put in place and investments that will put them on the right path? either becoming homeless or getting back into the criminal justice system. in the housing realm things work particularly well, one of them, we are excited, we have a joint announcement with the attorney general on permanent supportive housing. we have the pay for success

permanent supportive housing demonstration, a sickly it says two things. the best way to avoid homelessness is to put people in housing. it is called housing first, not make them jump through hoops, get a shelter so many nights or something else, get people into housing because that helps stabilize them when dealing with other issues. if they have an addiction or mental illness or other condition, if they need a job, stabilize it. give them quick access to wraparound services come of this is the supportive housing model. get folks into housing, give them access to wraparound services so they are more likely to get the help they need, to get a job, deal with a health issue or mental health issue and ultimately put them on that path. this is a special grant, we

believe, because it is a pay for success model. we are getting the test out there in innovative ways to do this and $8.7 million, we are proud to make this investment and see what we find that can then be replicated in other places and ultimately be able to measure with more precision because this is one of the challenges for us if you ask anyone, how do you actually measure what works? do more of that, put your money there and get the biggest bang for your buck. that holds high hopes to determine that. for us what we want to see ultimately is we get a greater percentage of folks reentering, that avoid homelessness, avoid recidivism and get to a

productive path in life. you are a great role model and your success story is what we want to see in so many more americans. >> secretary king, during our story i highlighted how going back to school meant pursuing higher education and then changed my trajectory. when i think back i have to acknowledge there was a missed opportunity is for three years i didn't get an opportunity to pick up a book and pursue postsecondary education. what steps has the department of education taken to make postsecondary education available? >> thanks for the question. i want to thank my colleagues for their leadership on this issue and community-based organizations that have been working at this a long time and been our partner in trying to

expand opportunities for folks who are incarcerated. i think you are exactly right, you are not able to take courses in prison was a missed opportunity. we have to acknowledge the federal government made a mistake in the 90s when we were in a rush to mass incarceration. we made a mistake. congress chose to deny access to programs to folks who were incarcerated and without access to programs and it is often prohibited. many programs, educational programs on university campuses -- we have been concerned about this issue and have authority under the higher education act to restore access to pell grants

as part of that experiment. evidence around what works for higher education. the attorney general joins us in maryland, announced we were going to adopt our second chance project where we would allow the university to apply, new pell dollars to support education. we know there is a huge impact on recidivism, showing 43% reduction in any direction in the program and some of that program is supported, helping folks get bachelors degree, seeing recidivism rates, 2% in those programs with those opportunities. today we are announcing the first set of universities that will participate in the second chance program. over 200 higher education

students apply, 67 institutions will launch the program, benefit 12,000 students in 27 states. the cost of the program, about 0.1% of what we spend has any impact on the others, from pell dollars across the country but it will create a path and the president has proposed a budget that congress reverse what was made in that it 90s and restore it generally for folks. this is at the heart of the question of a second chance. if we just do sentencing reform we won't have done enough. education and skills and jobs and opportunity to get housing and opportunity to get id so

they are successful when they leave, it further demonstrates -- to persuade congress to make the changes in the law. >> madam attorney general, coming your way. we celebrated father's day. i am a dad of two daughters, one of them here. [applause] >> moderator's privilege. graduated from the university of missouri, working at the committee for homeland security and doing great. when i went to prison, 3.5 years, it took us a while to

restore that relationship. there are many stories like that around the country and the department of justice is going to facilitate that relationship and break the gap on issues that children of incarcerated parents do. >> i am so glad this is part of the discussion because it illustrates perfectly the interconnected nature of all the issues we are talking about and the core of what reentry is and truly returning home means giving back to your family. going to a community, rebuilding those bonds, strengthening an entire nation but the core of that his family. what we have seen is a tremendous impact of these numbers of individuals who are incarcerated, we are at a point where your daughter is not

alone. one parent is incarcerated, i will tell you also when i go to prisons and talk to people, so proud to go with former secretary duncan and announce the beginning of the pilot program, we had a number of inmates taking college courses at the system we were visiting and they were not able to take advantage of the power pilot. every one of those individuals talked about the impact of their educational programs on their relationship with their children. both from a sense of their children's own educational needs and being an example but also understand how to be a better parent in all the ways that are not in the books.

to communicate about these issues. the act of going through the educational process, pulling itself into a different realm, opening up avenues of connections between what i was talking about and those who made the same comment. when we look at the cycle that we see, the lot of the use currently going to the system involve young parents or about to be, part of reentry is breaking that cycle, breaking the cycle and the connection. i was at an alabama institution talking with a number of men about their efforts to educate. also talked about the desire to be a better parent. one individual had a child who

was incarcerated in a different institution. special challenges of parents, someone going to the system, the same challenge every parent faces of not being listened to, but an incredibly difficult period as well. what we see, when you help individuals rebuild the bonds of family you do break that cycle. you come out with stronger families, people who are connected to their kids, young people who can look at what their parents have gone through, an example and something to learn from, to maintain up your physical connection people have with their children when they are incarcerated. often times people are not near their families. fewer facilities handle female

inmates and the nature of the crime in a particular part of the country. it can be difficult. it is challenging for any parent, almost incarcerates a whole family. working to improve the videoconference facility there and have those connections so people have regular communication with their children, something female inmates talk about which children of incarcerated parents talk about as one of the most important things you can do. talk to them, have that connection and talk about things that are going on in the institution, examples the people can be while they are incarcerated, the drug rehabilitation program going on so children can see parents

working on things and working on issues it does translate, we are announcing $1 billion grant felicitation to develop further programs to model ways to keep children and families connected when the person is incarcerated. we are looking forward to the concept in the plan we know this group will generate and other groups will generate. that is something we are excited about. i understand about the term second chance. when i look at the reentry efforts i understand what we are doing in many ways helping people rebuild lives and given an opportunity to develop before. and these are the essential parts of people's lives, who gets to tell the world who you

are. the educational system, the connection to children. the challenges of reentry that they were doing this for. the department of justice, not only helping individuals come home but breaking the cycle of individuals going back into prison for children following that path. >> your career in the justice department and the department of labor. how has your past professional experience influenced your work in the department of labor. >> no disrespect to lou gehrig.

had the opportunity to work at the justice department and the labor department. he got to the current job a week or so, the 50th anniversary of the march on washington, the march for justice, sanitation workers, pick up trash from the garbage. i am a man, a woman, when i look at the decision right now. and in los angeles and see the racial overlay. when i was at doj one of the most impactful things was we reach an agreement with the

shelby county criminal justice system. as a young kid, something like four or twee 5 times more likely, when you were white, we need to use every tool in our toolbox to recognize a few things. the economic dimension is simple. present company excluded population is aging. we have to understand that who is going to support us as we age, we need more people with w 2 incomes to support us. we can't leave any zip code behind and the public safety dimension, everyone has cited the overwhelming data that when you have these opportunities you

have a higher chance. the civil rights dimension that is undeniable here. it is important for us, responsive to your question. civil rights and labor rights and housing rights and education rights are all about recognizing the moment, seizing the moment. i firmly believe one of those moments is right here right now. i'm looking out in the audience and seeing folks who have been in the trenches for decades. when i was looking for senator kennedy 20 years ago when i had no -- when i had hair. mark mauer who is appropriately in the back row, says he is one of the most understated people you will need but is a hero in this movement. mark and i play a lot of

defense, a moment to play offense. there is a recognition that the toolbox is a hammer pretty soon everything starts looking like a nail. that was the philosophy that pervaded the criminal justice policy decades ago. now there is an understanding that we have to take a different approach. that is why when secretary castro did what they did for folks in public housing, that is a more sensible approach. john king, exhibit a, 1 million exhibits could be put forward. what the doj is doing with state and local prisons but internally, the bureau, to make sure the department is a model. the unprecedented collaboration

with the workforce, we have to make sure. i commend you for what you are doing to shine a light on this. if you lose sight of a moment in time you lose the opportunity. i think there is tremendous bipartisan opportunity. it is not that often that you have the coke brothers and folks in between coming together on that vision and that is what civil rights is about. the collective power of we. that is what labor rights is about. what democracy is about. the collective power of we is capable of doing remarkable things in every zip code for good reasons that relate to the moral and ethical imperative and economic imperative and public safety imperative and civil rights imperative. it is appropriate that we are all here and for many others,

cabinet colleagues on this team, inside outside collaboration. we can't do it without the businesses out there and the community colleges and other partners. >> thank you. secretary castro. [applause] >> it has been fairly well documented that a criminal record history can trigger for people to get work. what is becoming more well-known is the same barriers exist with regards to housing. recently hud put forth guidance instructing housing providers on how they should evaluate the criminal justice system determining whether people should have access to housing. can you share a little about that guidance, lay it out and

talk a little bit about how you anticipate the opening door to housing? >> definitely. one of the things we have the privilege of enforcing is the fair housing act. a very special piece of legislation because for generations it has truly empowered folks to ensure there is a label -- level playing field. when someone goes to the market to buy a home or rent an apartment. i wish i could say that even though it is a fair housing act of 1968 that we have made all the progress we need to make. we have not. one of the challenges is too often when somebody applies for housing or goes into the rental

market, it is analogous to the ban the box issue. the box you have to check, have you been convicted or arrested? summarily if you check that you are out. we won't even consider you. you have housing providers, landlords that are taking the whole group of folks because they have an arrest record or conviction record and setting them aside and not allowing them the opportunity of housing. the housing providers have said they have to come up with another solution. it is not enough to just say you are out if you have a conviction. blanket policies don't have a place in the housing market.

fundamentally what we are saying, how are folks going to get an aggressive second chance if you won't give a second look? if you toss them aside right away? within the policy, when you say that, right away landlords legitimately, what do you mean? i can't say no to somebody with a criminal record. the guidance, that is not what we are saying, you cannot deny somebody housing because they have a criminal record, you have to take anybody who has a criminal record. there has to be a legitimate reason for why you are excluding somebody. there is a difference. someone convicted of theft 35 years ago they were young and

somebody that was convicted of murder or a more serious crime very recently. there is a difference between someone who was arrested yesterday for something and someone who has an arrest record from many years ago, tailoring their policies, it generated a lot of interest. it is a useful tool for folks who get that second chance. on top of that we are not stopping there. somewhat reacting, we are trying to be proactive. collaboration with the department of justice, something called the juvenile reentry assistance program,

$1.75 million in grants going to public housing authorities so they can work with legal organizations in their locality to work with young people who are teenagers, so they can expunge their records and not face the challenge in the first place. states have different requirements, we leave that up to the states, the long and short of it is it ended the day, more young people out there who have that chance to work and throughout the housing market more americans may have had arrest records but are hard-working, doing what they should do and able to get that housing opportunity more than they were yesterday.

at the heart of more prosperity. >> secretary king, you talked about the second chance they'll initiative holding up opportunities for people inside with access to secondary education. the incarcerated population represents a fraction of the total number of people who had contact with the system and face many challenges with postsecondary education. i graduated with my junior college degree making a beat, i fly to one of the flagship institutions in south carolina. i remember the rejections and the exclusions that i felt, and

the department of education is making sure people with records who may or may not have had an incarceration experience have access to secondary education out here. >> it was a bad decision on their part. what we are trying to do is call on university school be more thoughtful about the causes and the housing market. universities that have questions about an arrest records or criminal record and use it in a blanket fashion, we created a toolkit for universities suggesting they think differently about how they approach the question. some don't use the question at all like the university of california in the initial stage.

and narrowing question to licensing areas. and folks getting a license, whether or not they are able to work in that field and more narrow questions. some universities after they asked the question make unreasonable demands, to get a letter from the board where they were incarcerated no matter how long ago it was explaining what their behavior was like when they were incarcerated. obstacles to enrollment in the university harm opportunities for students. we also created for the universities to commit beyond the box, 25 universities announced they were participating to grow that effort. the mayor of los angeles was with me to announce the guidance. at the event, he said a bunch of

other mayors should do the same thing. i will commit to bring together all the universities to talk about this, to move beyond the box and encourage other mayors to do that. 21 other mayors around the country are committed to them. with leadership like that, we will make real progress and there is a growing realization on the part of the university, extraordinary talent, by having arbitrary barriers. >> we have 3 minutes left and i want to give my esteemed panelists an opportunity to share anything they haven't been able to share, where they would like to see reentry particularly from their agency's prospective move forward in the future. >> we are moving towards that. our view is it begins on day one of a person's content with the criminal justice system and we

are looking to make the bureau of prisons a strong center for reentry with educational, employment, family connection opportunities, we feel it is an opportunity to connect with individuals and given the opportunity to take advantage of these programs so when they cross that bar and the gates closed behind them they can step into the workforce, find a home, move forward with their education so reentry begins at day one. >> scale and sustainability. we are scaling our efforts across agencies by making sure career staff assigned to every agency are working on these things to be carried forward. that is the internal dimension to what we are doing. the external dimension, in this

room, we who are part of this challenge play different instruments. mark bauer, other folks, we play different instruments but are in the same orchestra and we need more players in the orchestra. the orchestra of opportunity. when we host events where hopkins evangelizes why they do this and you get other employers saying i want to join the orchestra. that is lightning in the bottle so sustainability getting the orchestra to get more members is what it is all about. >> i think two things. integration is everything we do. we are at hand, how are we thinking how reentry fixes the choice neighborhoods program and common sense initiatives into the future, even our formula

programs like cbd g and so forth, and across to other departments, how to fit it into what education is doing with promised neighborhoods, tiger grants, what we are all doing, the way we made work a priority making this a priority to integrate into that. we can set out guidance, the housing market, but we need to make sure there is enforcement and we follow through, meaningful opportunities for folks. >> if we can do those things, it will make a bigger impact. >> two quick points, juvenile justice is a place where we have to get better. juvenile justice, no quality education experiences and don't

have a meaningful transition plan to the community. that is a pipeline, working with the department of justice to strengthen reentry programs, connecting students with educational job trainings in the facility and when they return. the second is the point of first chances. we have to look at the problem in all of its dimensions from earliest origins of data collection, african-american students suspended from pre-k, suspended from pre-k, suspended in cases of education, we have to reverse the prison pipeline by making sure students have a meaningful first chance. my brother's keeper initiative, the interest of all seasons to

help schools remake discipline and make sure students are in class learning for the emotional support they need so we don't condemn them to a much harder life. >> thank you. i could do this all day. folks have other important work to do. and closing i think part of my role in moderating this panel is to connect the policy to the real life experience and contacts with the system. i want to emphasize the people part. when my parents came and picked me up from a maximum-security institution they weren't picking up a contact, they were picking up their son, a member of their family, all of these folks we are talking about, these numbers

are people. somebody's father, members of the community and what we heard today is an important step in opening up that opportunity so everyone has access to the american dream. thank you. [applause] [inaudible conversations]

[inaudible conversations] >>he