Congratulations to our partners at Take Action Minnesota for their momentous state and national victories for community justice. Take Action's impressive three-year campaign to "Ban the Box" on employment applications moved Target to ultimately join in with the campaign to  make Minnesota the third state in the nation to ban the question regarding a criminal record on job applications. Target has now committed to eliminating the box in its stores nationally.

Banning the box legislation gives people with criminal records a better chance at getting a job. Individuals with criminal records, who are disproportionately people of color, are often excluded at the beginning of their job search regardless of their qualifications because of the checked box. Minnesota, in particular, has the nation’s worst racial jobs gap.

Take Action MN deployed an inspiring campaign that involved a 400 person public meeting, a 200-person public action in the lobby of Target’s headquarters, a hundred individuals with past records filing job applications at Target and being rejected, a visit to Target’s shareholder meeting and numerous meetings, e-mails and phone calls with Target executives.