The Waiting Workforce

JPMorgan Chase, creative agency Droga5, with The Glue Society in partnership with Biscuit Filmworks commissioned an art installation to shine a light on the problem of “The Waiting Workforce”

1 in 3 Americans with prior criminal records that face or have faced significant barriers to finding meaningful employment, and the importance of Clean Slate legislation. The installation consists of 38 sculptures that represent people with past criminal records in waiting positions made out of real expungement papers, showing how this complex and costly paperwork is the very thing keeping them out of the workforce. These are 38 statues for the 38 states that have yet to pass this legislation that would bring automatic record clearing and ultimately more employment opportunities for those who already paid their dues.

This installation opens on Thursday, April 4th and takes place in Philadelphia’s Independence Plaza throughout the month of April for Second Chance Month. Pennsylvania was the first state to pass Clean Slate legislation, so launching this campaign here signifies the opportunity for other states to follow their lead. On the same day, JPMorgan Chase will be hosting the Second Chance Business Coalition Conference to release the latest data on the expungement problem in the US. They’ve also invited people who have been affected by this issue to celebrate the art piece and its significance together.

For background, JPMorgan Chase has always been bigger than banking - their motivation as a firm goes beyond numbers and is rooted in their commitment to humanity. The firm’s purpose is to “Make dreams possible for everyone, everywhere, every day,” which is proven by their many efforts that are a catalyst for enduring impact across America and around the globe. The strongest evidence of their commitment to humanity is about a problem that the firm is leading to fix in America, which “The Waiting Workforce” aims to bring attention to: trying to remove barriers for people with past criminal records to get back into society and find meaningful employment.

“This was a creative solution for such an important cause, one where we needed to ensure it was memorable, inspiring and engaging, especially because it affects millions of people in our country,” said Scott Bell, Chief Creative Officer at Droga5. “This is a prime example of how we can use creativity to affect change – even though millions of people are suffering to get back into society, millions more don’t even know about this problem, nor that there is a solution to it. JPMorgan Chase does a lot of work already in this space to help people. We hope that “The Waiting Workforce” can help raise awareness of the issue and shine a light on the dire need for the remaining states to pass Clean Slate legislation.”

Droga5 explored different ways this could be brought to life, but the one that was found to be most resonant was the idea of creating the series of 38 sculptures of people in waiting positions, one for each state that has yet to pass Clean Slate legislation. To convey the scale of the issue, they used 1.2 million pages of real expungement paperwork to build the Waiting Workforce and educate the public about the issue and solution before us. When a new state passes Clean Slate legislation, the idea is that that state’s statue will be removed until there are none left.

The biggest barrier for people with past criminal records has been a complex, time-intensive, costly and paper-ridden expungement process. After someone has done their time, they end up going through a second sentence that limits them on the type of jobs they can apply for, the housing they have access to, and the type of credit they can request. These are just a few of the hundreds of limitations they have due to their criminal records.

“The Waiting Workforce” is an extension of JPMC’s “Make Happen” brand purpose campaign, which Droga5 created and launched late last year with the brand.