Suzanne's Mom's Blog

“Want proof that the goals of business and the needs of the most vulnerable can align?” asks Sarah Treuhaft (in YES! Magazine, by way of the Huffington Post, by way of the Christian Science Monitor).

“Meet Jeff Brown, fourth-generation grocer and owner of the 10-store ShopRite regional chain based in Philadelphia.

“By mixing old-fashioned customer service with innovative new approaches, Brown is chipping away at the nation’s jobs challenge, starting in the communities hardest-hit by the financial crisis.

Treuhaft goes on to describe one of Brown’s employees: “After being sentenced to jail for five years for selling drugs in his hometown of Lancaster, Pa., Louis Rivera was determined to turn his life around. An eighth-grade dropout, he spent his first year in prison preparing for and obtaining his GED. Upon release, he moved to Philadelphia and sent out dozens of resumes, hoping, at age 31, to secure the first real job of his life. No employer responded. …

“He walked down the street from his apartment to Jeff Brown’s ShopRite grocery store … Louis had gone to the right place. He did not know it at the time, but ShopRite is the only grocery-store chain in Philadelphia, and possibly in the nation, with an explicit focus on hiring ex-offenders.”

And with proper screening and training, ex-offenders turn out to be just as satisfactory as other employees.

“Brown believes his success with hiring ex-offenders is due to a strong partnership with a nonprofit workforce training organization, ABO Haven, that screens ex-offender candidates to find those who are a good match for the grocery’s culture, provides training in ‘soft skills’ like how to be successful in a work environment, and then checks back in with the workers once they are on the jobs.” More.

City of Philadelphia photograph by Kaitlin Privitera
Mayor Michael Nutter visits ShopRite following ground-breaking for the expansion of the Cheltenham Brown’s ShopRite