San Francisco is again in the vanguard of the ban-the-box movement. This time it’s called the Fair Chance Ordinance, and instead of city jobs, the law requires private employers, city contractors, and some housing providers to consider applicants on their merits first, not on their past mistakes. If 2013 is any indication of what’s to come, we can expect ban-the-box to soon reach a tipping point. Inspired by the successes in the United States, the campaign has even taken hold in the U.K., where an organization launched an effort encouraging businesses to give people a second chance by removing the “tick box.”

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