Employers who hire ex-offenders

I'm always happy to see when companies come out and talk about hiring ex-offenders.  Not only does it take some of the stigma away, but it gives hope to many who fear most doors are closed to them.   Johns Hopkins recently joined the ranks of organizations walking the talk in this editorial in the Baltimore Sun.

Since 2000, Johns Hopkins Hospital has hired more than 450 former felons, and does a great job saying why this is a good policy:

 Focusing on ex-offenders in a time of high unemployment may strike some as misguided, but we disagree. As an anchor institution in East Baltimore, we must provide stability to our entire community, and keeping ex-offenders employed clearly benefits the community. In the long term, the health-care field will see its staffing needs continue to grow; we cannot meet those needs if we write off a large section of the population.

The medical center's disclosure  prompted this follow-up article which names even more employers who along with Hopkins, came to the MCIW, the state women's prison to interview women soon-to-be released for jobs, including:

Safeway, Downtown Partnership of Baltimore, Uptown Press, cdm eCycling, I Hop Restaurant, Harbor City Services, Inc., Baltimore City, Goodwill Industries of the Chesapeake and Mary Kay Cosmetics.

Any others we want to add to this list?