White House Champions of Change Event Today -- Watch the Livestream!

White House Event on Monday: on June 30 the White House will host a day-long event focused on improving employment outcomes for individuals with a criminal record. The event will include a "Champions of Change" program honoring individuals around the country who are doing extraordinary work to facilitate employment opportunities for individuals formerly involved with the justice system.    In addition, on Monday morning there will be a half-day summit which will bring together business leaders, corrections experts and workforce development professionals to discuss collaborative and evidence-supported strategies for improving public safety, employment rates, and quality of the workforce.  To watch these events live, visit www.whitehouse.gov/live on June 30 at 10:30am(EDT). The Champions of Change portion of the event starts at 2pm(EDT).  

I encourage group members to watch when and if you are able.  John Linton, OCTAE Director of Correctional Education, will be moderating a Champions of Change panel around 2:45EDT this afternoon.  

-- Heather Erwin

Comments

I watched the live stream of the White House Champions of Change event today and it was fantastic. First of all, it was very cool to be able to "see" everything that was going on via the live stream feed (you can view press conferences and Presidential announcements via the same link). But the individuals honored and their inspiring stories, dedication and passion for their cause was even more impressive than the live feed.:)

i dont know if a recording of the event will be available in the future, but if it is I would encourage everyone to take even half an hour to honor the accomplishments of the Champions of Change awardees by watching them share the stories of their work. 

-- Heather

The link below will get you to an amazing blog post written by on of today's White House Champions of Change, Scott Budnick.  Budnick recently organized and spoke at the TEDx event at Ironwood State prison in California to which he refers in this post. The Ironwood event was the fist TEDx event in a California facility, and Ironwood is only the second facility in the nation to host an event in a prison or jail (Marion Correctional facility in Ohio was the first secure facility in the U.S. to host a TEDx event, and has since hosted three more, for a total of four events). Budnick's Huffington Post blog is part of a series supporting the Smarter Sentencing Act which seeks to revisit harsh prison terms for drug-related offenses.  

http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/5438191