Our Story

 

Monica Cooper was raised in Sandtown -- also known as Sandtown-Winchester -- in West Baltimore, Maryland. After serving 10 years at Maryland Correctional Institution for Women, Monica emerged a stronger advocate for the people: she completed her degree at Baltimore City Community College and currently works for the City of Baltimore full time; served as Executive Director of Out For Justice, and in 2018 was elected into the Baltimore District 40 Democratic Central Committee.

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The idea to develop an organization that specifically focused on economic justice for formerly incarcerated individuals started as a conversation between Monica and Kim Haven, another formerly incarcerated woman. MJP grew from these conversations into a one-woman grassroots nonprofit focused on “Ban the Box” legislation in Baltimore.

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In 2014, Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake signed the Ban the Box bill: moving forward, all private companies are required to remove requests of reporting any prior criminal history on job applications. After offering a conditional hire, employers are then able to request that potential hires report on any prior criminal history. Companies are not required to hire formerly incarcerated individuals, though companies that withdraw job offers solely on the basis of applicants having criminal histories [even if their cases do not relate to the job] are subject to a fine for discrimination.

 

To date, Baltimore remains the only major urban area in the state of Maryland to support this legislation.

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