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Dear SIMians –

Many of you know Kathy Getz from her more academically active days as a professor but alas she has gone over to the "dark side" and is a wonderful administrator, a dean, now.  Kathy recently contacted me and asked if I could forward some information along to all of you.  Here are excerpts from her email and additional information regarding Laurin Leonard.

I've gotten to know Laurin Leonard, a woman here in Baltimore who is doing great work with people who have been touched by the criminal justice system. She's got a lot of projects and potential projects (see below) and she's the type of person who won't drop the ball.   Right now, she's looking for someone who might be interested in doing some research on businesses that hire returning citizens, with an eye to creating an award for those businesses that do so particularly well. She's observed that some businesses are very quiet about employing former inmates and hopes an award might encourage them to be more open about it – which in turn might encourage other businesses to get on board.  Also, I'd want everyone to know that Laurin understands the research process, the importance of publishing, etc. She would work collaboratively to assure that whatever work was done would have that outcome for the scholars involved.

Kathleen A. Getz, PhD

Dean, Sellinger School of Business and Management

Loyola University Maryland

4501 N. Charles St.

Baltimore, MD  21010

410-617-2301

kgetz@loyola.edu

https://www.loyola.edu/sellinger-business

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·  Research Need #1 - A review of corporations and industries to better understand their commitment to criminal justice for the purpose of building an award that encourages others to create a CSR strategy  

·  Research Need #2 - A lit review seeking the state of literature that connects having a criminal record to banking outcomes. We know of some loose research but want to discover what exists. 

·  Research Need #3 - A lit review on the debt collected (we are looking for an actual average number) by coming in contact with the criminal justice system (fines, fees, restitution etc). 

If we move to have something published I would love to discuss a collaborative work as I've published a few pieces with a colleague from Morgan State University (one of our case studies on Boeing's Supplier Diversity program is available for download in HBS' library). We are strategically going to pursue funding to cover any research expenses but would also love to work with your grants/research team to see if there is anything that makes sense to pursue together. 

As a reminder, our nonprofit, Mission: Launch, builds the capacity of entrepreneurs with records to clearly articulate their business model and revenue channels via LaunchPad. LaunchPad is a 90-day boot camp style program that prepares entrepreneurs to address concerns of managing debt and navigating personal financial resilience. We provide program graduates with an R3 Score, which is a proprietary algorithm that serves to help loan officers better assess loan seekers. Here is a 1 min 28 sec video on R3 Score.  

·  My co-founder/mother, Teresa, and I were recently selected as 2018 Echoing Green Fellows 

·  R3 Score was recently featured alongside Teresa in this VICE Article here 

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Laurin Leonard (Hodge)
Executive Director   

2018 Echoing Green Fellow 

Black Male Achievement Fellow 

 202-449-4677 Ext.700

Address

Mission: Launch

*MAILING ADDRESS* 

711 W. 40th St. #153

Baltimore, MD 21211

Jim Weber