With Oregon’s unemployment rate near a historic low, Dave’s Killer Bread Foundation is hitting the road to encourage businesses to consider hiring more people with felony convictions and a history of incarceration.

The foundation’s Second Chance Tour stops in Bend on Tuesday. Employees and human resources personnel from two Central Oregon companies, Bright Wood Corp. and Humm Kombucha, will form a panel, and the discussion will be moderated by Deschutes County District Attorney John Hummel.

Deschutes County sent 215 people to state prisons in 2017, according to incarceration statistics provided by Dave’s Killer Bread Foundation, based in Milwaukie. The local rate of re-incarceration was not available, but Hummel said the inability to find housing and jobs is a big contributor. “If you’re living on the streets, or you’re penniless, you’ll go back to committing crimes,” Hummel said.

Within three years of being released from jail or prison on a felony conviction in 2014, 55 percent of Oregonians were arrested, and 41 percent were convicted of a new misdemeanor or felony, according to the foundation. As of Sept. 1, 14,876 Oregonians were in prison.

Out of Humm’s 108 employees, a few happen to have a history of incarceration or a felony conviction, Director of Human Resources Nancy Gammond-Moody said.

“We have a really collaborative, inclusive environment,” she said.

“When you walk into Humm, it’s a clean slate. Make it happen for yourself.”

Oregon’s ban-the-box law, which means employers can’t screen applicants based on criminal history, took effect in 2016. Gammond-Moody said she evaluates a serious criminal history on a case-by-case basis, the same way she evaluates one’s driving record. Whether it’s a felony or a DUII, she said, “Take responsibility for your actions. Be honest about that. Most employers will want to help you.”

The panel discussion is from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. at Oregon State University-Cascades, Innovation Co-Lab, Room 209.

—Reporter: 541-617-7860, kmclaughlin@bendbulletin.com