Brandi Mandato, a senior director in Jobs for the Future’s Center for Justice & Economic Advancement, was recently quoted in a Washington Post article about the barriers people who have been incarcerated face when they try to attain professional licenses.

“There’s a multiplying effect there. If we don’t have access to good jobs, we don’t have access to health care, housing, all of these things that are important to launching a life and building community and keeping people safe,” Mandato says in the article, titled “Licensing Barriers Keep People With Criminal Records From Education and Training.”