the inside stories that affect you and your community. welcome to local new. >> one of the programs that i manage is leadership action. it asell bells programs for business leaders and not-for-profit businesses. last thursday class two >> unveiled, untapped cincinnati which is designed to help local

potential is pool of employees who are often overlooked, men and women who have complete their prison terms, and are released, returning citizens. it is important to recognize that in the united states one in six people have a criminal record rather from a practical workforce perspective, a concern about recidivism or a morale perspective. if all of these people are excluded from a meaningful employment we are crippled as a society. the story is not ultimately about statistics, it is about individuals and their families, one of the returning citizens, that the project spoke with was marcus, he shared a story of what it was like for him to be released after 12 years in prison. >> they released me with a hundred dollars and that was it, and dropped me off at a bus

county on the bus. so i had to spend $60 to get back to hamilton, when i got there, i had $40 in my pocket and basically no place to go. i didn't know anything about ohio, i didn't have any family here or know anyone here. i didn't know what to expect. i had to find someplace to sleep. people told me about the different shelters in the downtown area. so i went to like three of them before i got a bed. so a week before i was released i received a letter from on some program called reentry, i never heard of it i didn't know what they had to offer me, "got up the next morning, i went to take care of my medical because i had high blood pressure, i had to take care of that first, make sure i got my medicine and everything. i did my little running around. so on my down time, i took the

again, let me go over to this reentry just to see what's going on. i went over to the reentry office and i walked in it and i just told them i want a job, i just got out of prison and i want a job. >> i am joined right now, by two members of the untapped cincinnati project team leadership action. mesa is a family owned business, with plants here in cincinnati texas and los angeles, mesa products produces for the oil and gas industry, store and tanks, gunnite, plaistering, and david, vice president of easter seals, he focuses on the growth and sustainable of the program's building ability, and packaging

production centers. welcome to newsmakers h i tried to make it clear at the beginning, this is a program that i'm responsible for in my full time job, and i just want to clarify, tons of conflict of interest here. so anyway, really good to have you here >> so terry is an employer in a manufacturing area. one of the things that we discovered when we got that this is you have returning citizens working for you, and you didn't go out necessarily searching instantly for that, it just happened to you. >> it did just happen. we don't ask that question, it is not important to us, and how we operate. and the short story is that an employee was offered a job, it was someone i had known outside of our business, and i thought he was a wonderful person, and i thought he's very

in a gardening service, there is more to him than that, and i said come in and go to work for us, and we got all the way through the process, and then finally, he sort of hesitated, and he said i need to tell you something. i've got two felonies. and i said okay. i think that you've got a lot of talent, and that was presently 6 or 7 years ago, and today he is a wonderful member of our team, and he chose when the time was right for him, himself to share his story with other coworkers nothing i've ever shared, it wasn't important to me. what i knew was important that he had a young family, and heed a dream and a future that he wanted to pursue, he wasn't going to do that as a gardener, today he has a growing family a home for the very first time. he bought a home so opportunities were given to him when he could have a real job with a steady paycheck, and a w-two at the end of the year.

other people. and we won't go into all of that. >> yes. >> the important thing i think hear is you don't even have that box in your application form because that's not what is important. >> it is not important in the slightest. >> david you're coming at it from a different point of view, although easter seals employees a lot of people. that one in six number that i was mentioning at the top. how important is that to our total economy, and especially when you think about the number of people who are unemployed, and who can't find work, is this the significant portion of that? >> oh, absolutely. it was a significant portion of the people who are employed. right now, we are at a pretty low unemployment rate at 4.3 percent, and if you think about that, and i got an opportunity to hang out with our manufacturers, at our chambers round table, and one of our topics of discussions is we have

some estimates 40 percent of companies are reporting openings that are lasting longer than six months, and if we are screening people because there is a box on the application, what kind of talent will are we screening out so we can't meet our customer's demands. >> in your case, you thought you saw some talent, a lot of people may presume that people coming out of prison don't have any skills or training. i want to go back to another part of the interview that we did with marcus, and hear his perspective, and again it's not just personal he's speaking for people who have been in prison in lots of situation, let's hear this. >> we hold a wide variety of jobs while we're incarcerated. so when you're ready to to be

12 years, they wanted me to put a. a, resume together, and than want you to explain that for those 12 years, i was an executive clerk for four years, an executive cook for two, during that team you had to do all of those duties like an executive clerk would have to do. i did the purchasing, i did the inventory, coming out, being released, you're really motivated to get back into the work force because you're seeing that you didn't miss anything as far as working is concerned. and if you really look at it, you develop better habits. >> it is a very interesting perspective, and one of the things that we did as a class is we spent an afternoon at lebanon correctional, we wanted to see some of the training, what was your impression, what was your take away from that afternoon. >> that was one of the most

this whole experience has been very moving >> the wonderful, wonderful skills they're learning, welding. >> which you care about. >> which i care about, and there was powder coat painting a fine level of painting and great assembly. in fact i came back to may office and waive the card to may production manager, is there nick that we can partner with them to do it was such a great quality. and actually talking to the fellas, at that case, it was all men, and they were listening to their ex uberance about it, but how they can put it to work once they got out. >> what is your observation about that challenge of people having confidence to say, as they come out, i actually do have skills, i know something, and do they come out with anything that can tell an

>> yeah, they come out with skills way, impressed by that shop as well. in my past life in engineering, they weren't just following manufacturing processes, they were making their own processes, the biggest challenge is that they don't know, that they know these things, and impresses employers. to have 10, 12 years of experience in a fabrication shop doing that level of work is impressive. they're developing soft skills whether they know it or not. you think about manufacturing it is a lot about efficiencies and processes. these guys know a lot about routine and process. it is just built into their daily life while they're incarcerated. >> terry, for you, as an employer, when david mentioned soft skills, what do you care about, besides the soft skills what is important to you. >> it is a great question, it is something that people overlack,

anyone comes to work for me, i'm not just saying it a job, i want you to come to work and know this is a profession, this is a career which we want you here for years. we love that they come out with some experiences, but we want them to come and know that we're going to offer them training, that they're part of items. we have a motto that says what started as a family business is now a business family, and that phrase came from one of my employees, and i think that it says a lot. it says that we're working for us, you're going to be enveloped by everybody, you're going to be part of items, and we will help you become part after team and that is not unusual in mid size business it may get lost in a large business. that is the core of a mid size business it is that whole collaborative environment and everybody is a person.

this year's class, the leadership action was diana hoskins who in many ways got us excited and interested about doing this work. david can you say a little bit about what she runs at the office of reentry, and marcus that letter in his pocket that he didn't know what they did. he tells a little bit about their work. >> absolutely. diana is the focal point for anybody who is trying to move from kind of incarceration at the penal step back into society, and as we heard from marcus, edition $40 and a letter from diana's office, that as it. she has been instrumental not in just the work she's done with marcus, but she's worked with organizations like ours and others, as we're trying to help people connect to employment, and she's able to help us connect to people with resources, whether it tax credits, or certifications of

it is the new thing in ohio where people who have records can get the certification, which is a pretty rigorous process for them to go on through with the judge, for them to state, no, i many a reliable citizen, i am qualified for this type of employment. diana's office is instrumental in connecting all of those dots together, and becomes a valuable resource for as well. >> one of the points that i really want to make is that your team has decided to partner with the beacon of hope, which is grounded at the niemeyer, industries, on an ongoing basis what are going to be offering employers as you move forward. it wasn't just do this project, and learn about it. >> well it could never be just do this project, because for one, i'm for every change a i did it by accident in my

like david and others, and --. >> we only have about a minute left. >> speaking of hope. they're really looking to be this connecting point for employers and for returning citizens. it is confusing when you look at all of the resources and how do we make those connections, and do i as a business mitigate my risk, and still get a quality employee. so essentially we're looking at doing an event in june that we can then bring together more manufacturers than we exposed to on thursday, and see if we can get more folks in the room, open up the dialogue, and then we'll have a website, and resources. >> i want to make sure that people know about some of the resources that are here. whether you're an employer or a returning citizen, you want to learn more, you can get in contact with hamilton county office of reentry, it is down in hamilton county court house, and/or you can get in touch directly with the beacon of hope

call their telephone number, or the ohio justice policy center, and sasha, and she specializes in this area, and will be working with us in the future, thank you very much for the work you've done. this has been nothing but a fun year for me, and a great project, i'm very proud of it, thank you. stay tuned. we have all heard about the water issues in flint michigan, a local legal case revealed a local problem and through a difference in way

kentucky and /-frpblt. >> drinking water problems in flint michigan have created concerns and on doubts across the nation. in our area, an attorney, a scientific study and a local 12 news report are reducing questions about what might have been in the water in thousands of people's taps in our area >> local 12 jeff hirsch conducted our investigation >> whether you turn on the faucet in cincinnati or kentucky, your water starts in the same place, the ohio river, and before the river water is treated it can contain some

lawsuits, and scientific reports have noted, pfoa, that is used in teflon, it stands for tfoa. >> it can be dangerous, a panel of scientific experts has connected it to six diseases, pancreatitis, kidney disease, and high cholesterol. >> it has been linked as applause i believe explanation to girls in northern kentucky, the study was done for the national institutes of health and included researchers from the university of cincinnati. it is circumstantial evidence not a slam dunk but to a northern kentucky attorney who has been researching tfoa, for the past 15 years, it is reason

on notice, and for blood tests to be made available to the community. >> what the studies show is that young girls who had their blood tested, who actually lived in northern kentucky, and apparently were on northern kentucky drinking water, had significantly elevated levels of this chemical tfoa, in their blood. >> he lost a launched a battle with that dupont chemical, was a story recently in the new york times maga seen. the article explains how he figured out that tfoa, in parkersberg west virginia, had polluted the ohio river for years. he won a class action lawsuit which included free medical monitoring for

and the chance to pursue financial damages if the customers had any of the six diseases. 3500 customers are pursuing claims, because we all know that the ohio river flows down to us from parkersberg, and and. tfoa, can flow down with it. >> the result much higher tfoa, levels in the northern kentucky girls, and it has taken longer for them to publish the results. why girls in northern kentucky, and not in cincinnati, it is the same ohio river, and the girls only lived a few miles aapart, but water treatment was different in northern kentucky, than it was on the other side of the river in ohio. the study published in 2014, says that results suggest that a source

dupont plant. may have had exposure to girls through their drinking water, and it led to the girls in cincinnati i for granular activated fitters. northern kentucky added dashion fittration in 2012, but people could have been drinking pfoa, they say it had gone that the ohio for decades. >> this chemical is a persistent chemical it will it will stay in the body for many many years. he has written to federal and state regulators saying that the need for immediate community wide public disclosure is imperative to protect public health. >> if in fact it was coming from the drinking water before it was fitered, the elevated blood levels wouldn't be limited to a small group of people who were studied it would be expected to be something found in the community. the northern

our request for of for an oncamera, but engineering vice president amy kramer answered us by e-mail. she says there is no determine textable /-fplt >>. >>. an detectible. that there is no link to pfoa years ago. and the district at the timed the water in the river, and found no pfoa contamination, and got the same results in 2010. we didn't feel that we should alarm the customers kramer says when we have data that shows it is not in our water. and kramer points to the same 2014 article about the possible pfoa link to the chemical plant, which says there is a link to the study for the

such as food or household dust. but did girls in northern kentucky really eat enough different food or live in that much house dust to cause a significantly different level of chemical in their blood? maybe, maybe not. and if drinking water because the source, the scientists that did the study, it was not just the tested girls who are likely must pact the of. the higher serum concentrations discovered in the northern kentucky girls are probably representative of all persons in the northern kentucky water district during the same period. that's why they said that the northern kentucky water district deserve a lot more information. >> the extent to which the community realizes this is a

the /-fplt. it is called geno pledging information on contaminants. we have tested our waters in 2014, and fifteeners and there are no pfoas in your drinking water. however this section only went on there on february 24th, 2016, less than a month ago, only after the attorney started asking writing questions, and i started asking some questions. there is nothing on this website about that potential link between pfoas, and young girls in that study. jeff hirsch. local 12 news. >> a couple of comments from a historical point of view. this is only the latest of a long history of issues with the quality of drinking water. drinking water in an urban area is a manufactured product it is not a natural product. you have to treat it and you have to fix it. and that is a continuous process. cincinnati water works

the world to treat all of its water with activated carbon not just during emergencies, the fact that kentucky is a little bit behind, you can understand, put that into context. h attorney a ron ballot has set up monitors. it is important to note that about 12 percent of the northern kentucky district customers get their water from the licking river not the ohio. the water district tells local 12 that it tested licking river water in 2014, and 2015 after it left the plant, and there were no detectible levels of chemical pfoa, however the licking was not tested in the river itself in 2007, and 2010, only the

the fastest growing county in the region, and the city of

from the ohioo r riv . >> up next on business watch presented by the business courier. >> when it comes to lick or licenses, it is a good bet that a local stats company is expanding beyond cincinnati, and