NATIONAL UTILITIES DIVERSITY COUNCIL PRESENTS DR. KEESHA MIDDLEMASS IN FREE WEBINAR ON RETURNING CITIZENS ON OCTOBER 16, 2025

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 15, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Utilities Diversity Council (NUDC) announced today that Dr. Keesha Middlemass, Associate Professor of Political Science at Howard University, one of the nation's leading scholars on prisoner reentry, will lead a national webinar on her award-winning research on the experiences of returning citizens (formerly incarcerated individuals) returning to the community. Convicted & Condemned: The Politics and Policies of Prisoner Reentry will take place on Wednesday, October 16 at 10:00 am PDT. The webinar is part of NUDC's series on best practices in training and hiring returning citizens. This webinar is free and attendees may register at the NUDC website - https://nudc.com/events.

Dr. Middlemass, whose book, Convicted and Condemned: The Policies and Politics of Prisoner Reentry (NY University Press) won the 2018 W.E.B. DuBois Distinguished Book Award, National Conference of Black Political Scientists (NCOBPS), has focused much of her research on the politics of punishment, racial justice, and the lived experiences of formerly incarcerated adults.

During this webinar, the audience will gain an understanding of the different factors that go into a program for returning citizens in the utilities. Dr. Middlemass will discuss the challenges returning citizens face when finding employment, the role of wrap around services and the impact policies can have on successful returning citizen programs.

"We are excited to bring one of the nation's leading scholars to the utilities industry to speak about this important and timely topic," said Laurie Dowling, Executive Director of the National Utilities Diversity Council. "Years ago we were challenged by the Public Service Commission of the District of Columbia and the U.S. Department of Energy to identify best practices and raise industry awareness about training and employment of returning citizens in our industry, so we are very glad to be able to offer this webinar, which is part of a year-long series of free webinars on this topic."

NUDC

The National Utilities Diversity Council educates, develops best practices and guides efforts that will promote diversity in the utilities and communications industries in the areas of governance, employment, procurement, language access/customer service, and philanthropy.

The NUDC is governed by a 21-member Board of Directors, chaired by Harry Sideris, President, Duke Energy, and The Honorable Davante Lewis, Commissioner of the Louisiana Public Service Commission. It is made up of corporate leaders, regulators and regulatory staff members, suppliers, and non-profit professionals committed to encouraging diversity in the utilities and communications industries. Since its inception, NUDC has provided resources through webinars, toolkits, conferences and research. The majority of NUDC's programs are made available at no charge to the user.

To contact NUDC:

laurie.dowling@nudc.com

323-982-7223

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SOURCE National Utilities Diversity Council