Justice Champion Spotlight: I Have A Bean Founder Pete Leonard

What is I Have A Bean? 

I Have a Bean is a specialty coffee roasting company that was created for the express purpose of offering training and meaningful employment to post-prison men and women. We roast coffee selected from the top one percent of coffee in the world. It’s the best coffee you’ve ever experienced, with a purpose that’s even higher.

What inspired you to work with post-prison individuals? 

I started I Have a Bean after witnessing the insurmountable employment roadblocks that my brother-in-law faced after he was released from prison. He knew that his felony had forever changed his life, but the dismissive consideration he was shown by potential employers was cruel and unexpected. Despite marketable skills in computer programming, accounting, logistics, and math, he was treated as a “throwaway.” That did not mesh with my Biblical belief in the powerful reality of redemption, and I felt called to do something about it.

Why is it so important that employers work to create meaningful second chances?

Businesses have the power to change things. When others see what we’re doing and what the results are, they are more likely to follow suit. Capitalism can be an amazing force for good. It has lifted more people out of poverty globally than any other system. Consumers today are more likely to buy from, and champion, businesses that “do good” or “give back” in a way that meshes with their view of how they want the world to be. When we show that we’re working towards their same goals, when we precipitate positive change in the world and contribute to human flourishing, we earn loud and loyal customers. It’s good business.

What are the benefits you have seen from Fair Chance hiring? What are some of the challenges?

The benefits of our employment model are significant. The employee loyalty we enjoy runs counter to what many other companies are experiencing right now. We are well respected in our community — and truth be told, we probably get more free publicity than other businesses who don’t hire the way we do. Challenges? There have been some. Because we are a coffee roaster with a strong social mission, some in our industry dismiss us out of hand because they think we’re like many other “causal coffee companies”: we only know about their mission and therefore can’t possibly know much about coffee. When we get them to put aside their biases and actually taste our product, their eyes are opened. Another challenge early on was that people were warning me that (well, first — that I was crazy!) I had to be careful to monitor our production to ensure that “those felons” were not putting cocaine in the coffee. I just shake my head at that one.

What is the business case for Fair Chance hiring?

There are many business cases for hiring post-prison people, and they are significant. Here’s one of them: In my home state of Illinois, our recidivism rate is said to hover near 50 percent. According to the Illinois Policy Center, roughly 20,000 men and women are released from prison into Chicago and the five collar counties every year. According to a report by the Illinois Sentencing Policy Advisory Council, each instance of recidivism costs the Illinois tax payer $120,000, plus another $38,000 for every year that person remains incarcerated. If the recidivism rate is 50 percent, that means that 10,000 people are re-incarcerated ever year. The cost of that is staggering — more than $1 billion annually. If we compare that to the recidivism rate of the employees of I Have a Bean (less than 3 percent), we can show roughly $4 million in savings to the state every five years. If more employers followed our lead, what impact would that make?

What advice would you give to employers who are considering becoming Fair Chance hirers?

My advice to employers who are open to considering the opportunity of Fair Chance Hiring is to realize that you do not have to figure this out on your own. Getting Talent Back to Work has some key resources that will help you start navigating down this road. I would also point them to RBIJ and tell them to get involved here. Finally, I’d tell them to taste and see the amazing product that post-prison people are capable of producing — order coffee from I Have A Bean!

What is Clean Slate legislation? Why is it so important for businesses like yours in Illinois? 

The idea of a clean slate is something we’re already used to as a society. When a person declares bankruptcy their debt is wiped clean. If, in the next seven years, they are able to stay current with their bills, we restore them to full credit worthiness and remove that bankruptcy from their record. Clean Slate legislation does something similar for people with a felony conviction that is far in their past. After a person has done their time and is released from prison, they have the opportunity to prove they can live a crime-free life. If they do, we recognize that they are not the same person we put away: they’ve changed and they’ve proven it. We should wipe their slate clean and welcome them back as full-fledged members of society. The average unemployment rate of formerly incarcerated people is a staggering 27 percent. That alone is an enormous burden on society. They’re not unemployed because they don’t want to work; instead, our deeply rooted biases and harmful misconceptions cause us to believe the lie that the past mistakes made by other people somehow dictate their present reality. So we work to keep these worthless miscreants far away from “us and ours.” It’s no surprise that many return to prison, or become trapped in lifelong dependence on the state. Clean Slate legislation can turn that around completely.

When you aren’t working, what do you enjoy doing?

“When I’m not working?” Ha! Actually, I love doing things with my wife of 40 years. We have a great time together and really enjoy biking, hiking, new restaurants, travel and eating the meats I smoke on the weekend. We also crave the time we get to spend with our five delightful grandchildren.

What’s a fact about you that would surprise people? 

I don’t know about “surprising” per se. but one fact that people might find “interesting” could be the fact that I have come amazingly close to death four times. Amazingly close. And just “very close” three more times. Gives me shivers when I think about some of those.