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"BAN The Box" and End the employment discrimination for formerly convicted movement has been raging since 2007.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSxK8YAdxdw&feature=player_embedded
Recorded on January 13, 2011Seeking opportunities for ex-convicts "BAN The Box" and End the employment discrimination for formerly convicted, X-Offenders for Community Empowerment hosts "Ban the Box " Press Conference w/ Councilwoman Donna Miller @ Historic Berean Institute co founder Wayne Jacobs opens conference with overview to huge gathering of formerly convicted persons and advocates

Seeking opportunities for formally convicted persons
City ordinance would remove criminal background from job applications

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCKSKBJx-nc&feature=player_embedded
Steven Blackburn, president/co-founder, X-Offenders for Community Empowerment introduces panel
Taking a bold step to fight job discrimination against formerly incarcerated persons, Councilwoman Donna Reed-Miller sponsored a bill, which, if ratified, would remove the question of an applicant’s criminal history from employment applications.
https://www.youtube.com/user/rmship#p/u/5/dauynBhi6IQDuring a press conference held at the Berean Institute Thursday, Miller joined members of local organizations such as X-Offenders for Community Empowerment (XCE), the NAACP and others to publically announce efforts to “ban the box”.
The conference was packed with members of the community who were either themselves formerly incarcerated and complained of job discrimination or were the friends or loved ones of those who were.

https://www.youtube.com/user/rmship#p/u/5/dauynBhi6IQ 

Here Councilwoman Donna Reed Miller , talks about her education reference number of people on parole, 
“The press conference will serve as an announcement of the movement to restore economic and social rights to the formerly convicted,” read a press release distributed by the group XCE.
According to the group, the ultimate goal of the movement is to “guarantee the 300,000, and rising, formerly convicted people in Philadelphia get fair interviews for employment,” said Wayne Jacobs, the group’s executive director and co-founder.
While it is understood that some occupations will always require background checks of its applicants, it is believed that “the box” requiring applicants to check either yes or no to the question “have you ever been convicted of a crime” on the job application themselves, as opposed to interviews where such convictions can be explained, often exclude formerly convicted persons from a fair review of their qualifications even when such convictions would have no bearing on their ability to perform the tasks required by the jobs sought.
https://www.youtube.com/user/rmship#p/u/5/D8vcczX6LmU"I could not even get a job cleaning pota potties, Reuben Jones shared with the groupThe bill would prohibit employers from denying employment because of arrests that did not result in convictions, require background checks to be done through the Pennsylvania State Police, and prevent such checks from being performed until after an offer of employment has been extended, among other things.
While some see the bill as an issue of discrimination, others, like Wali Smith, prison liaison of the NAACP Philadelphia branch, also sees it as a public safety issue, one which could possibly reduce recidivism and lower the city’s overall crime rate.
Barry, House manager at Stop and Surrender shared his feelings and the requests and needs of formerly convicted persons, whom are transitioning from half way house status. Sister Waheedah Shabezz-El http://www.champnetwork.org/staff/waheedah-shabazz-el and http://fight.org/ , Reuben Jones http://www.philly.com/dailynews/local/111109299.html , Malik A. Aziz and Wali Smith of Men United For A Better Philadelphia / NAACP and others offered resource information. Berean Institute instructor explained services and career options including low cost grooming at the cosmetology school.
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“When people come out of prison and want to do the right thing to feed their children and pay their bills and are precluded from doing so, they then return to the things they used to do,” said Smith who noted that formerly incarcerated people have to provide for their families as well.
Measures to “ban the box” on applications have reportedly passed in such states as Massachusetts, California, Connecticut, New Mexico and a host of others who have ratified laws which would limit its use on applications.
here Wali Smith, Philadelphia NAACP shares his experiencehttps://www.youtube.com/user/rmship#p/u/6/IQG_SgmcsaM“The formerly convicted are the last minority to be legally discriminated against for jobs, housing and other resources most people take for granted,” read documents released by XCE http://www.x-offenders.org/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-xv1Gb9OT0&feature=player_embedded
Recorded on January 13, 2011 University of Pennsylvania Law students making a documentary in support of the Ban the Box on job applications regarding criminal records history.

Portions of this article was ( WRITTEN BY NATHANIEL LEE TRIBUNE CORRESPONDENT)