For the Record: Candid Conversations about Criminal Record Clearance—Episode 3, Bettie Kirkland

Episode 3

Bettie Kirkland, the executive director of Project Return in Nashville, joins For the Record to discuss her organization’s work connecting hundreds of people who have criminal records to employment each year and reflects on what it means to ensure they have a chance at success.

About For The Record

Around 70 million adults in the United States have a criminal record, and thousands more work to help those with records succeed in their communities. Each one of these people has a story.

This interview series, produced as part of the Clean Slate Clearinghouse, explores the varying perspectives on often overlooked and underexplored aspects of criminal records and what it means to clear them. In each episode, Rashawn Davis, a policy analyst at The Council of State Governments (CSG) Justice Center, sits down with people in the field—which include those with criminal records as well as policymakers, lawyers, and social workers, among others—to capture their experiences and their visions for the future of criminal record clearance.