Last year, #Jobs4Freedom was the hashtag and rallying cry of a grassroots movement pressuring the Alameda County Board of Supervisors to authorize a plan to designate 1,400 county jobs for people who had previously served time in jail or prison.

When the board voted “yes” to the plan in June, The Justice Reinvestment Coalition of Alameda County, a network of 15 community organizations, hailed it as a huge victory.

Yet to date, no one has been hired. The “Alameda County Re-Entry and Harder to Employ Hiring Program,” is almost three months behind schedule, and the grassroots organizers are frustrated.

“To be honest, I feel like there really hasn’t been a genuine effort on the part of the county,” said John Jones III, who was paroled from prison in 2012 and works as a life coach with Communities United for Restorative Youth Justice.

Kathy Mount, Alameda County’s interim human resource services director, said developing the re-entry program was more complicated than people thought it would be. She cited the complexities of the civil service system and the challenges of finding entry-level jobs in an agency that “does a lot of high level work where jobs require a lot of experience and certificates.”

“We really are moving heaven and earth to make this work,” Mount said.

Candidates seeking full-time county employment are required to pass the civil service exam. Under the new re-entry program, the county wants to create a special classification for formerly incarcerated people. Someone could be hired and have time to learn the job, receiving mentoring and job coaching, before having to take the test. Candidate referrals will come through the probation department, which already had contracts with organizations that provide re-entry job training.

The county so far has researched all of the departments to determine how many classifications there are for entry-level jobs that require less than two years experience and where you need no higher education than high school or GED. These include jobs ranging from clerks to janitors.

Mount said she could not provide a specific number of jobs that would be available because they come open on a rolling basis, when departments have a vacancy and funding for the position.

That has been an issue of concern for the grassroots supporters of the re-entry program. How do you recruit people for jobs when you don’t know how many positions there are going to be?

There will not be anywhere near 1,400 jobs, because the county doesn’t have that many to offer, Mount said.

Coalition members said they chose the 1,400 figure because that’s how many people would be released from Santa Rita jail in 2016 as a result of Prop 47 and AB 109. Prop 47 reduced certain non-violent drug and property crimes to misdemeanors. People who had been incarcerated for those crimes were entitled to resentencing, and many were released. AB 109, also known as realignment, provided for people serving certain felonies and parole violators to serve their time in county jail rather than prison. It also funded community diversion programs.

There are an estimated 375,000 people in Alameda County who have criminal records, according to a 2014 report by the Alameda County probation department. They often face widespread discrimination in hiring.

“We’ve got people saying I’ve done everything I’m supposed to, I’ve taken these classes, I’ve got certificates, but no one will give me a chance,” said Danielle Mahones, director of the Bay Area Black Workers Center and the coalition coordinator.

In 2014-2015, there were 13,718 people on probation in Alameda County, according to the probation department report. There were 259 who enrolled in job training programs through organizations that had contracts with the probation department. Of those, 79 got jobs, and only seven of them were still employed after six months.

Grassroots supporters and county officials said the program is meant to address the re-entry training cycle to nowhere.

Jones said one barrier has been overcoming stereotypes about the formerly incarcerated, especially among county workers who are responsible for setting up the program.

“There was this perception that we’re all just ignorant and uneducated and might show up with pants sagging and under the influence of drugs,” said Jones, who worked as an aircraft mechanic before his conviction on assault charges. “Many of us had experience, but you look at a state like California and there are 6,000 restrictions that ban folks with criminal records, and 73 have a lifetime ban.”

Supporters said they will push the county to start hiring in June.

“I’m optimistic that at least some people will have an opportunity to have county jobs and we will keep pushing them until we get it,” said Darris Young, a local organizer for the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights. “You can’t just let people out of jail and say you’re giving them an opportunity and you don’t give them any resources to make it.”