Justice Champion Spotlight: Down North Pizza
Tell us a little bit about Down North Pizza.
Down North Pizza is a mission-based for-profit pizzeria in the heart of Philadelphia, in the Strawberry Mansion section of North Philadelphia. We exclusively hire formerly incarcerated individuals and provide them with various resources to help them navigate life post-incarceration – anything from housing, legal services, or things to address the unique needs they might have. We have different partnerships around the city so there are resources at the disposal. The majority of our services are offered free-of-charge.
Why did you choose to focus your business on hiring people who are justice-impacted?
I’m justice-impacted myself – so I know how hard it is, when you are justice-impacted, to navigate through life on the other side. I also knew that justice-impacted workers made up a lot of the folks behind the scenes at restaurants and in a lot of spaces, and I felt like it was time to put them at the forefront and really showcase their true value.
I knew I was opening up a restaurant, and I looked at the neighborhood, and I wanted to focus on addressing some of the issues that plagued this community. I ended up really focusing on one: recidivism. People are cycling in and out of the neighborhood – and at the same time, Pennsylvania has such a large population of individuals who are incarcerated. The majority of them come from Philadelphia. I wanted to understand those dynamics and really work to address them.
There’s a lot of data on the fact that finding a job reduces recidivism. Can you talk about some of the experiences you have had with your employees that confirms that data?
Of course. I have a love-hate relationship with data, but I can speak to our workforce. Since we opened in 2020, we’ve hired almost two dozen people. We’ve been together for four years, and not a single one has gone back to prison. We’ve had some people leave the job – we know that this can just be a stepping stone for some folks, so we have them resources and got them into other places. But we can really see is that nobody is going back to prison. People have a license, a passport, all the things they didn’t have. When [Down North] helps provide those things, we’re saying to people that we see value in them – and when they have self worth like that, and they see their value in society, we’ve found that they do okay.
Can you talk about why providing those resources is so important?
Look at the businesses that are thriving in America. Look at Amazon or Apple – they have full-blown restaurants, they relocate their employees, they pay for all these resources. You notice it, and that matters. People always ask us “how can you do this”, and it’s funny, because we’re doing the same thing, just on a smaller score. But it’s the same idea, and all companies get it.
When you want your employees to thrive, you have to center your work on the people at your company. That’s what I see myself doing. I don’t have the budget a big corporation might have, but I understand the value of centering your employees, and making sure they have what they needs.
For people who are justice-impacted, that might be a pretty specific set of needs. It might not be the same things that an Amazon employee needs – it’s not one size fits all. But we look at our employees and see how we can parter with them to provide those resources so it isn’t an extra burden for them. We have apartments on top of the store, for example, that we’ll rent out because we aren’t going to discriminate [against someone with a record] like a landlord might. We’re not going to pay their rent, but we’ll help them get connected to a program that might support them for six months so they can get back on their feet. So when we can, we eliminate barriers to resources that employees need.
How do you go about finding those resources?
A lot of them come to us – what we’ve seen is that when you sincerely do the work, good people will come and approach you. People have resources and are trying to get them out there. So a lot of what we do is just disseminate them through the company.
What advice would you give employers who are looking to start Second Chance Hiring?
Do it because it’s the right thing to do. There are benefits on the financial side for sure, but that shouldn’t be the reason why. These are people’s lives you’re dealing with. And I think a lot of people get it wrong. They’ll do things like hire someone because there’s a tax credit or a benefit. The truth is, there are a lot of benefits, but we found out about a lot of them because our intention was there and we wanted to impact people in this neighborhood.
If you’re going to come into a neighborhood [like North Philadelphia], it’s important that you’re trying to actually work with that community, not just profit off of it. That’s the biggest thing I would say.
What has been your proudest moment?
My proudest moment was when [Down North employee] Chef Mike got his driver’s license. I remember the day he pulled up in a brand new car. And then I promised him if he got his passport, we would take a trip outside the country. So he got his passport and we went and did a safari in East Africa. It’s moments like that that resonate the most with me. Obviously, we sell good pizza, and that’s cool. But those are the moments that really keep this thing going.