Pilotlight partner charity UNLOCK, which works with reformed offenders, has won an award from The Guardian newspaper for its work promoting equality for ex-offendors.
“This award is a public statement acknowledging the efforts of all reformed offenders,” says Bobby Cummines, chief executive of UNLOCK, the National Association of Reformed Offenders.
UNLOCK has just embarked on its pilotlight process with the support of project manager Crystal Waldman and four pilotlighters. The charity, which employs just three full-time and two part-time staff has a vision of a society, "in which reformed offenders are able to fulfil their positive potential through the enjoyment of equal opportunities, rights and responsibilities." With eight million people on the government's offender index (one in three middle-aged men has at least one criminal conviction) and the limiting effect of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (ROA) it has quite a challenge on its hands. The main thrust of UNLOCK's work involves persuading the banking and insurance industries not to be afraid of engaging with people who have criminal records.
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