In early 2022, we (Barred Business) worked with the ACLU of Georgia to draft model legislation to amend the City of Atlanta’s Ordinance to include justice-impacted people and created a detailed document—“PROTECTED Campaign: The Next Phase in the Civil Rights Movement”—that laid out the multiple aspects of the campaign.  We identified a city council member who championed the Protected Class Legislation—meeting with us to discuss strategy, introducing the legislation in September, and lobbying other council members. We got a sign-off from the Atlanta Legal Department and the support of the Atlanta Human Relations Commission. We did a citywide push to get community and member support for the passage of the legislation by the full City Council. On October 19, justice-impacted people became a protected class in a major U.S. city, with the ordinance passing unanimously on the first vote.

 

When word got out about our legislative win, impacted people from around the country let us know how personally meaningful it was for them. Some were from well-established Black- and impacted people-led groups with long experience in their communities, while others were from smaller groups that were just starting to build their programs, organizations, and partnerships.

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Learn more about the Atlanta Protected Class Campaign:

• ​Former Inmates Now a Protected Class in the City of Atlanta (with video)

• Athens News Matters: Formerly Incarcerated People as a Protected Class (audio interview)

• Atlanta Now Protects People with Criminal Records from Employment Discrimination