Alyssa Lovegrove Brings Pivot to Aspen Ideas Festival
Posted in News
Academic Director Alyssa Lovegrove brought the Pivot Program to the Aspen Ideas Festival, where she joined other business leaders advocating for expanded opportunities for returning citizens. Lovegrove spoke on a June 29 panel about reentry and career building at the high-profile conference in Aspen, Colo. She discussed how formerly incarcerated individuals can develop leadership and professional skills through reentry programs like Pivot.
Lovegrove, Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield and Flikshop CEO Marcus Bullock — who was incarcerated for 8 years — highlighted the ways in which second chance hiring benefits formerly incarcerated people and their employers alike. Returning citizens are capable of achieving immense professional success when companies are willing to shift long-held and harmful norms about hiring employees who have been impacted by the criminal legal system.
“The key is getting employers engaged early on, having an open mind, understanding that we’re talking about an enormous talent pool that we’ve just previously overlooked.”
Alyssa Lovegrove