Cornell Project for Records Assistance (CPRA)

This training was provided as part of the remedy in the Gonzalez v. Pritzker class action lawsuit against the US Census Bureau, settled on September 20, 2016. In order to fulfill its obligation to provide training, Cornell established the Cornell Project for Records Assistance (CPRA). CPRA provided education and training to Black and Latinx individuals who applied for positions with the 2010 Census and were denied employment based on their unconfirmed criminal histories.This report details the work performed by Cornell University ILR School’s Labor and Employment Law Program (Cornell) pursuant to the contract signed by Outten and Golden and Cornell University.

CPRA reached out by email in December 2017 to members of the class who indicated they wanted training (A-filers), welcoming them to Cornell, explaining the training, and directing them to a video to meet Esta Bigler, the Executive Director of the project. In addition, Cornell brought together a research team, including legal experts, social scientists, economists, and statistical experts, who helped design a questionnaire to learn basic information about the A-filers and help the CPRA team prepare individualized training.

In May 2017, Esta Bigler sent a letter to all A-filers introducing the questionnaire, detailing the kind of training they would receive, and the importance of the Cornell Survey Research Institute. The CPRA team sent several follow-up requests to answer the questionnaire and created a special phone line and email address to answer A-filers’ questions. All A-filers were assured that the training was being conducted by Cornell University and that their answers would remain confidential. The CPRA team recorded all contact with A-filers in a secure Salesforce database.

1,744 A-filers answered and returned the questionnaire indicating their choice to receive CPRA training. The CPRA team provided ten (10) opportunities of contact to engage A-filers in the training. These efforts included one (1) initial training invitation by email or mail, five (5) reminder emails, two (2) phone calls, one (1) SMS text message, and one (1) follow-up call for A-filers who missed their scheduled trainings. Outreach efforts began in January 2018 and concluded in June 2020. Below is a chart detailing outreach efforts:

The CPRA team worked directly with A-filers to deliver individualized instruction based on residence and/or where the criminal record was located. Training included information on their criminal record; accuracy of the record; opportunities for correction, sealing, expungement, pardons, certificates, or other forms of remediation available to individuals; employment legal rights, including Ban the Box, Fair Credit Reporting Act, and Title VII; and how to discuss their records with prospective employers.

Preparation

The CPRA team reviewed responses from each A-filer’s questionnaire to determine their state of residence and where their criminal record was located. This data was used to order commercial background screening reports from VICTIG Consumer Reporting Agency (VICTIG). The VICTIG reports formed the basis of the CPRA training and are similar to reports used by employers to screen job applicants. The CPRA team used the following criteria to order A-filers records:

• A-filer’s self-report of current state of residence or previous state of residence; or
• A-filer’s self-report of arrest, conviction, or incarceration in current state of residence or previous state of residence.

The CPRA team ordered a total of 1,744 VICTIG records and uploaded each A-filer’s background screening report into their Salesforce account for use in training. The CPRA team analyzed each record for conviction information, location, level of offense(s), and noted any duplicate entries or dismissed case(s). The procedure for ordering criminal records was as follows:

• Upload list of eligible A-filers by state to the Cornell Restricted Access system to retrieve personal identification information for criminal record order;
•  Organize list within Cornell Restricted Access system;
•  Download list into Cornell secure box database and install password to protect the file;
• Allow access for Cornell partner to retrieve password protected list to search criminal record information for each filer; and
• Cornell partner uploads all criminal records into Cornell secure box for CPRA team to save in Salesforce. 

Prior to training each A-filer, the CPRA team reviewed the A-filer’s commercial background screening report from VICTIG and the 78 data points obtained from questionnaire responses from May 2017.

Individualized Approach

Each CPRA training covered the following topics:

• How to obtain the state criminal history record and the FBI record and costs;
• An overview of the VICTIG consumer reporting agency background screening report;
• How to correct a RAP sheet;
• Sealing and/or expungement, if applicable;
• Pardons;
• Certificates;
• Ban the Box laws;
• Fair Credit Reporting Act;
• Federal and state employment laws;
• How to discuss a criminal record; and
• Job interview skills.

Training sessions began January 18, 2018 and concluded June 17, 2020. From this group, 645 A-filers from 45 states completed the training. Of those who originally requested training, 199 Filers missed their training sessions and 69 A-filers refused training.[1] Overall, the CPRA team trained 37% of eligible A-filers.

Follow-Up

After the CPRA training, each A-filer received a post-training email that included:

• Summary of the CPRA training;
• Instructions on how to get state and FBI criminal records;
• Link to the CPRA website;
• Contact information for Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights; and
• Hyperlink to a Qualtrics evaluation survey.

[1] A-filers did not participate in training for the following reasons: deceased or ill, nonresponsive to outreach efforts, refused assistance, and/or filer did not update contact information.

The CPRA team worked with ILR Technology Services to design and build a secure Salesforce database to record all information collected from the A-filers. Data from the Settlement Administrator was uploaded in the summer of 2017, and data from questionnaires received from A-filers was added soon thereafter. The CPRA team documented 149 Salesforce fields for each individualized training session in order to create searchable reports and analyze the results. Upon completion of the training of participants in 45 states, the CPRA team recorded 96,105 Salesforce fields.

The CPRA team negotiated a work-share agreement with the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law (Lawyers’ Committee) to coordinate pro bono legal services for A-filers. The CPRA team and ILR Technology Services worked extensively with Lawyers’ Committee to develop a Salesforce Community Site through which questionnaires, VICTIG records, and A-filers’ information collected by the CPRA team would be shared and stored. The Salesforce Community Site also allows Lawyers’ Committee to manage the provision of pro bono legal services and their interactions with the A-filers.[1]

During training sessions, the CPRA team informed A-filers that the remedy provided, pursuant to the settlement agreement, includes the possibility of record relief with the Lawyers’ Committee and its pro bono partners. Following each training session, a CPRA team member “opened” the A-filer’s Salesforce file to Lawyers’ Committee. The CPRA team has made all 645 trained A-filers’ accounts available to Lawyers’ Committee. 

[1] The ILR Technology Services provided training to Lawyers’ Committee on how to operate and manage the site.

The CPRA team coordinated with Cornell’s Information Technology Services (CIT) to build a CPRA website to offer resource information to A-filers. The CPRA team drafted and edited content for the website, which contains national and state-specific information on employment laws and criminal record remedies in easy-to-understand terminology. In addition, the CPRA team drafted and edited forms for A-filers to use when applying for criminal record remedies or for obtaining a local, state, or FBI criminal record. Two additional attorneys worked with the team to expand content to multiple states. A mirror of this website was also created for class members who opted to receive priority notice of a job opportunity with the US Census Bureau (B-filers). 

The CPRA team conducted research for remedies available in all 48 states where A-filers were located (including multiple jurisdictions within states), Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia. The CPRA team formatted, uploaded, and published 960+ pages onto the CPRA website. Each A-filer was referred to the website before and after training as an additional resource. The website includes step-by-step information on:

• How to get a RAP sheet;
• Fees associated with accessing a criminal record;
• How to read a RAP sheet; and
• More information about the record.

Additionally, the website includes remedies available by state, such as record correction, sealing and/or expungement, if applicable, and pardons. Statewide and intrastate jurisdictional laws pertaining to employment (i.e., Ban the Box) are also provided on the CPRA site.

The CPRA team created a 10-question evaluation for A-filers to complete after their individualized training session. The purpose of the evaluation was to assess the participant’s understanding of the training and gauge its impact on the participant’s actions related to their criminal record. Data obtained from the evaluations was used to analyze the effectiveness of the CPRA training. The evaluation requested feedback in the following areas:

• Knowledge gained from taking the CPRA training;
• Willingness to obtain a copy of their official record;
• Likelihood of applying for criminal record remedies;
• Level of awareness on employment laws; and
• Comfort level in talking about their criminal record to an employer.

The evaluation was developed in collaboration with Associate Professor Erin York Cornwell, Cornell University’s Department of Sociology. 

Responses

414 A-filers (or 64% of the total respondents) completed post-training evaluations—a high response rate for evaluations and surveys. Here are visual representations of selected evaluation questions[1]:

[1] See Attachment A for complete list of survey outcomes.

Many A-filers wrote personal comments about the training and its impact on their lives. Here is a sample of their (unedited) testimonials:

“I have been waiting for the opportunity to clear up this issue for a long time (50 years). I thank Cornell and God for finally giving me a direction to follow to achieve this goal. This experience has haunted me too long. Thank you for contacting me.” CPRA ID 46747

“great experience; very informative; I learned a lot. I've never run into a company before that did anything like this to help people.” CPRA ID 66352

“Rachel the leader trainer was exceptionally thorough, detailed and informative. She was quite patient and responsive to all my questions. Overall she was outstanding at her ability to make very complex dense material understandable and actionable to the layperson. I appreciated it all very much.” CPRA ID 71187

“Prior to CPRA training, I had become complacent about my situation. I believed "the dye had been cast" and I had no options, at least that I could afford. I am now reenergized and more hopeful.” CPRA ID 11945