Campaign builds on previous efforts to limit the overreliance on background checks in the hiring process, with added focus on ensuring access to vital identification documents upon release from incarceration
CEO Launches Multi-State ‘More Than a Background’ 2026 Campaign to Remove Hiring Barriers for People with Criminal Records
Campaign builds on previous efforts to limit the overreliance on background checks in the hiring process, with added focus on ensuring access to vital identification documents upon release from incarceration
New York, NY–January 21, 2026–The Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO) launches the “More Than a Background” 2026 campaign. Building on the success of “More Than a Background,” the 2026 campaign is a policy-driven, multi-state effort to ensure that every justice-impacted person can access identification, meet their basic needs, secure meaningful employment, and begin to build economic independence.
“When people are given a fair chance to work, families stabilize, employers gain reliable workers, and communities grow stronger,” said Simone Price, Director of Organizing at the Center for Employment Opportunities. “Opportunity means that everyone who is working hard to rebuild after release, deserves a chance to participate in society.”
The “More Than a Background” 2026 campaign unites partners and advocates across Michigan, Colorado, New York, Ohio, and Oklahoma to transform systems that block access to employment and basic needs.
In 2026, CEO and its partners will work to advance the following policies:
Vital Documents Reform: A driver’s license or birth certificate can be the difference between reentry and reincarceration. Yet, for many people leaving incarceration, obtaining vital documents is a maze of fees, wait times, and outdated processes.
Fair Chance Employment: Employment is one of the most powerful tools for preventing recidivism. Stable, post-prison employment reduces reoffending, even among individuals with extensive criminal histories and limited prior work experience. Yet, barriers in hiring and licensing continue to exclude qualified workers.
The thousands of participants who walk through CEO’s doors each year drive CEO’s policy priorities. Every legislative push is shaped by the input and leadership of justice-impacted individuals. At the end of 2025, CEO disseminated a “State of Your State” survey to hundreds of justice-impacted people across the country to gain deeper insight into the most pressing barriers to economic mobility experienced by formerly incarcerated people. Of the over 650 people who responded to the survey:
“More Than a Background” was initially launched as a public awareness campaign in April 2024 to limit the use of criminal background checks in the hiring process. The campaign aims to shift the narrative by raising awareness of the inequities caused by the overreliance on background checks in the hiring process; encourage and educate employers on better, more equitable hiring practices; and seed the ground for future reforms.
In addition to experiencing unemployment rates much higher than the general population due to discrimination based on having a criminal record, justice-impacted people are also often turned away from jobs, housing, and social programs because they don’t have access to the necessary identification documents. “More Than a Background 2026” is a legislatively focused campaign advocating for crucial fixes that will address barriers to employment and economic opportunity. The reforms included in this campaign are designed to create a clear on-ramp to stability because without identification, there is no job, housing, or a fair opportunity for success in reentry.
By addressing barriers to identification, employment, and licensing, “More Than a Background” 2026 offers a policy roadmap toward fairer systems and stronger communities. With lived experience at the helm, this campaign advances legislative solutions rooted in equity, dignity, and economic opportunity.
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About the Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO)
The Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO) provides immediate, effective, and comprehensive employment services exclusively to people recently released from incarceration. CEO currently operates in 30 cities in 12 states and is dedicated to ensuring that justice-impacted people have opportunities and careers to achieve socioeconomic mobility. For more information, please visit: ceoworks.org.