Mayor Rahm Emanuel Introduces New Ex-Offender Re-Entry Program

Deborah Bayliss | As of Wednesday, April 2, 2014

L-R: U.S. Cong. Danny K. Davis (D-7th Dist.) and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel take part in a round table discussion at St. Leonard's Ministries on Chicago’s west side last Friday with 27th Ward Ald. Walter Burnett and Illinois State Sen., Patricia Vanpelt (D-5th Dist.) prior to announcing a pilot family reunification program that will allow 50 formerly incarcerated individuals to move back into CHA housing over the next three years.
L-R: U.S. Cong. Danny K. Davis (D-7th Dist.) and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel take part in a round table discussion at St. Leonard's Ministries on Chicago’s west side last Friday with 27th Ward Ald. Walter Burnett and Illinois State Sen., Patricia Vanpelt (D-5th Dist.) prior to announcing a pilot family reunification program that will allow 50 formerly incarcerated individuals to move back into CHA housing over the next three years.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel held a round table meeting and press announcement at St. Leonard’s Ministries on Chicago’s west side last Friday with elected officials and ex-offenders to announce that the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) will launch a pilot, family reunification program that will allow 50 formerly incarcerated individuals to move back into CHA housing over the next three years.

Called The Family Reunification Pilot, something the Chicago Coalition (CCH) for the Homeless, the only non-profit in Illinois dedicated to advocating for public policies that curb homelessness, the program involves reentry providers including St. Leonard’s Ministries, Haymarket House, the Safer Foundation and Lutheran Social Services.

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Christophe Collins, a formerly incarcerated individual, now a customer service assistant with the CTA and a St. Leonard's volunteer who teaches computer basics shared his journey of turning his life around saying The Family Reunification Pilot program is badly needed.

The Mayor, along with Cong., Danny K. Davis (D-7th Dist.); 27th Ward Ald., Walter Burnett; Illinois State Sen., Patricia Vanpelt (D-5th Dist.); and six ex-offenders, took part by speaking at the round table and press announcement.

“We’re going to start a program at the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA)...so people coming out of prison can be reunited with their family if they’ve made the choice to work,” explained Mayor Rahm Emanuel. “We’ll try it as a pilot and if it works, we’re going to expand beyond the pilot so that the jobs door and the housing doors are not closed."

Davis commended St. Leonard’s Ministries as one of the programs in Chicago that provides comprehensive residential, case management, and employment services for individuals released from prison.

“Being at St. Leonard’s is like being in Mecca when it comes to reentry. For at least 40 years that I’ve been involved with them,” Davis said. “They have been the guiding light across America and one of the most successful programs that has ever been put together. All of those individuals who have played leadership roles are to be commended. The city of Chicago is leading the way on this issue in America. The kind of policy, programs and activities that this place has initiated and is putting into play, really becomes vision for the rest of the country,” Davis continued.

There will be a 60-day public comment process for the pilot program and then the 10-member CHA Board of Commissioners will vote on the matter.

Cong. Davis has been a longtime supporter of these types of programs for ex-offenders.

“We are the most incarcerated nation on the face of the earth with more than 2.5 million incarcerated. Every year more than 750,000 of them come home from jail or prison. They need to be welcomed. They need to have barriers removed. I want to commend the mayor of the City of Chicago for his recognition and sensitivity to that issue,” Davis commented.

Each of the six ex-offenders who took part in the round table shared stories of their troubled lives and how they were able to turn things around with the help of St. Leonard’s Ministries and Haymarket House, a reentry provider of addiction treatment, housing placement, and job training.

Christophe Collins, a customer service assistant with the CTA and St. Leonard’s volunteer who teaches computer basics there, grew up in Altgeld Gardens, got married and had a child early, found himself in trouble with the law in 2004 and was convicted on a two-count gun felony in 2006.

After that, he wasn’t able to find employment until 2011 when he came across the St. Leonard’s Ministries program and decided to volunteer there and was able to matriculate through their job training/placement program despite his felony conviction.

“I went through the building maintenance program that taught me how to build a house from the ground up,” Collins said. “After finishing that program, because they told us to treat the program like a job, I was immediately hired by the CTA through this program. I worked in the CTA’s ex-felon, apprenticeship program."

Because he couldn’t move in with his family, because their building did not allow ex-felons to reside there, Collins was allowed to move into St. Leonard’s housing facilities.

“This program (The Family Reunification) is definitely needed. If I didn’t have this chance, I don’t know where I would be,” Collins said.

Mayor Emanuel told Collins he admired him for, making sure to mentor others who have made a mistake, even with all that’s on his own plate.

“You’ve got your family and your son and that you’re willing to put some time in to help others…I appreciate that,” Mayor Emanuel said.

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