2C Workforce Solutions, an Atlanta-based commercial staffing agency, recently announced its official launch to support meaningful job opportunities for the incarcerated and formerly incarcerated, and to bridge the gap between employers and talented individuals who deserve a fresh start. 

2C Workforce Solutions is designed to focus on connecting talent to employers across a wide spectrum of industries including manufacturing, distribution, e-commerce, IT, and administrative business. The program will also connect businesses with job seekers of all backgrounds, experiences, and skill levels, including formerly incarcerated individuals pursuing second chance employment opportunities.

With a wide-ranging suite of services including second chance hiring, mental health, and education and training resources, 2C Workforce Solutions will build a stronger, more inclusive community while transforming lives through meaningful opportunities.

Tem Morgan, senior vice president of 2C Workforce Solutions, will lead the organization’s executive leadership team in Atlanta.

Morgan said he started in the Atlanta market back in 2005 and began growing across the southeast. During that time and through 2019, Morgan said he encountered many individuals returning home from incarceration.

“Whether it was their own mentality or was employers that were resistant to hiring these individuals, I was frustrated about it. It’s always been something in the back of my mind, even after we sold in 2019, I wanted to help and we produced this vision of 2C Workforce Solutions and second chances,” he said.

Morgan also said he wants to help “those 687,000 individuals returning from incarceration in a year and there’s a huge labor shortage in the market.”

“Thinking about how can we kill two birds with one stone, we came up with this solution to say, ‘Hey, we can provide a great strong and working resource for our employer partners and also provide jobs for those individuals returning home because they want to work, they have skill sets, they have pre-employment training, and they will work hard’, they just need a second chance, hence the word and title, second chance,” he said.

Morgan said the importance of second chances is extremely important and their approach to it is “holistic”.

“We all fall short, and we all need a second chance. We’ve all done things that we aren’t proud of. I call it the individuals that society has forgotten because in society, for some individuals, if you make a mistake, they imprison them, we don’t rehabilitate them, and no one gives them a second chance,” he said. “It’s easy to place that moniker on them that they’re a bad person, but our focus is to change that paradigm with partners in the community, and the community at-large.”

“You are not a felon, you made a mistake, you served your time. We want to get you a job right now so you can take care of yourself,” he said. “We also want to work on your career path, and you might have the skill set of customer service, forklift, or what have you, but what do you want to eventually do? What’s your five-to-10-year plan? You might want to be a coder, so let’s work with organizations to help you become educated or certified.”

Additionally, Morgan said 2C Workforce Solutions hopes to bridge the gap between employers and talented individuals who deserve a fresh start.

“In any situation, we must talk and create an environment where employers are free to voice their concerns, and we want to find these individuals and change their paradigm that society hasn’t given up on you,” he said. “We want to support you and there’s companies and great employers in the Atlanta area that want to support you and learn about what we’re doing.”

Also, Morgan said they are doing “a lot of educating on both sides”.

“If you look at the form of incarcerated, we’re educating them saying, ‘Hey, we’re going to get you great jobs, and you’re not going to be plucking chickens on the side of the rides or picking up trash’,” he said. “We’re going to get you something that is at or above the standard cost of living. We need to help them understand that you do get a second chance here and with the employers, we’re educating them about what ‘returning citizens’ means because when you hear it, you automatically think negatively”.

2C Workforce Solutions said they will be driven by a mission of fighting injustices in the temporary staffing industry and changing lives through meaningful partnerships. The firm will partner with companies across multiple business verticals to facilitate local training, transitional housing training, and both pre- and post-release opportunities for individuals impacted by the criminal justice system.

To seek a second chance, Morgan said 2C Workforce Solutions posts jobs on their website or you can find them on Indeed. Additionally, he said in the current climate, they know they need to find people “where they are”.

“We work with client partners that want to hire these citizens and we’re going to do many job fairs and get into communities. We are reaching out to them, so they can come to our website, call our phone number, or we can find them where they are, whether it’s working with Metro Reentry or with transitional housing,” he said. “It’s a dual-faceted approach where we’re inviting individuals through Public Relations and through our own strategies to see us, but in this climate, we also know we need to find people where they are. We’ll go to them”.

Furthermore, since the program is new, Morgan said in five years, he sees the 2C Workforce Solutions

“We want to expand across Georgia and the southeast, but Atlanta is home, so we are focused on Atlanta and its impact in the area,” he said. “In five years, we want to have several locations across the city of Atlanta where we have great partnerships and provide that holistic service to eager employees. We also want brand recognition, we want employers to come to us, and hopefully in five years, we’re doing less educating and having several branches and strong governmental partnerships.”

Lastly, Morgan said they are in it for the long haul.

“We endeavor to put people in a job, and they get paid weekly. That’s number one and how we make a change in an individual’s lives,” he said. “We want to be that employer of choice. We have passionate employers, communities, and others who want to make a change. We must fight and see this through.”

For more information, visit 2ccareers.com.