LINCOLN — Twenty years ago, Diane Good-Collins lived behind bars as Nebraska prison inmate No. 94586.

Today, she’s the head of a community college program that has trained and placed in jobs 3,100 former state prisoners so far this year.

Good-Collins, the director the Re-Entry Program (RAP) at Metropolitan Community College in Omaha, said she shared her background with 200 people at the annual legislative summit on Thursday to help “de-stigmatize” the idea of hiring former inmates.

She and other panelists at the Platte Institute event said Nebraska has to “think outside the box” if it is to solve its years-long workforce shortage — including giving prison inmates a second chance.

“We’re smart, we’re committed, we’re loyal and we’re part of the answer,” Good-Collins said Thursday.

She joined former State Sen. Heath Mello, now the head of the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce, and current Sen. Danielle Conrad of Lincoln, an advocate for workforce solutions, on a panel discussion about the state’s workforce problems and “barriers” to solving it.

The Platte Institute is backing a proposal in the Legislature that would allow “universal” recognition of work experience in other states and in the military in obtaining professional licenses in Nebraska. The proposal, Legislative Bill 16, awaits debate during the 2024 session.

In Arizona, such a law has granted licenses to more than 8,000 people who have moved to the state since late 2019, speeding their entry into the workforce, the Goldwater Institute reported.

LB 16 includes a “second chance” provision for prison inmates. It would require state licensing boards to specify what kinds of criminal offenses are a “direct and substantial risk to public safety” that would preclude them from obtaining a professional license.

About 200 occupations in the state, including about one in every four jobs, require a government permit or license, according to the Platte Institute.

The free-market organization wants Nebraska to join 19 other states in adopting some kind of universal license recognition, arguing that skills aren’t lost when someone crosses state lines.

“It’s smart public policy to quickly address critical needs in our state,” Conrad said of LB 16. “Everyone agrees, our workforce challenge is the state’s No. 1 issue.”

There are an estimated 50,000 job openings in the state, a number some say could be as high as 80,000. There are about 700 job openings alone in Nebraska financial institutions, according to Richard Baier, president of the Nebraska Bankers Association.

Mello, who took the Omaha chamber job in July, said the lack of affordable child care and available housing are the top two barriers he hears from business leaders in hiring new employees.

Another need, he said, is providing more training in K-12 schools and community colleges in technical fields.

“We are going to have a very difficult time addressing long-term workforce shortages in Nebraska,” Mello told the gathering, unless the state pursues innovative solutions.

Conrad, who has advocated for pardoning minor marijuana offenses to remove a barrier to getting hired, said it’s universally recognized that “a good job” is one of the best ways to prevent a repeat crime and return to prison.

Laura Ebke of Platte, a former state senator, relayed the story of a former prison inmate who wanted to become a drug counselor. She said she was told that she could study for a master’s degree in Nebraska, but would never be allowed to work here because of a “moral turpitude” clause in state licensing laws.

So, Ebke said, the woman moved to Florida, which lacks such a barrier.

Conrad said it’s not a “one size fits all” issue. Licensing requirements are often vague, she said, and present “a high bar” for entering a profession. The state needs to reconsider “what makes sense” when adopting licensing standards, Conrad said.

Good-Collins said that more than 90% of the state’s 5,600 prison inmates will return to society within three years, a group she calls “the hidden workforce.”

She said the RAP program, which the Nebraska Department of Corrections funds to prepare inmates for re-entry, has grown from having five participating businesses in 2015 to more than 300 today.

Jobs in manufacturing, truck driving and culinary services are the most common jobs being obtained by participants, she said, but others are taking jobs in banking and accounting.

Good-Collins spent five years in prison after her 11-year-old daughter — whom she had left in the care of two teenagers — started a fire that led to the girl’s death via smoke inhalation.

But Good-Collins said she took courses in prison and was hired at Metro shortly after finishing her sentence in 2003.

“And they can’t get rid of me,” Good-Collins said, to applause from the audience at the Embassy Suites.

This story was originally published by Nebraska Examiner, an editorially independent newsroom providing a hard-hitting, daily flow of news. It is part of the national nonprofit States Newsroom. Find more at nebraskaexaminer.com.