Participants | Heartland Alliance

WORKING TOGETHER FOR LONG-TERM SUCCESS.

READI Chicago staff members work alongside participants to help them achieve their goals.

Marcus

I can tell that what I’m doing right now is changing me. I can feel it every day when I wake up—I’m different, and my mind is different.

Jawanza

I’m living a whole different lifestyle now. I’ve learned a lot about coping and looking inside myself.

Jacquay

My life is different now—I’m not hiding. I live my life out in the open. I want people to see what I’m going through because it might help someone else.

Edward

I don’t know what I would have done without READI Chicago. This really saved me—it’s good for me, it gives me good habits. I’m more prepared now to go out and get a job.

Scottie

I’m doing this because I want to show other participants trying to change their lives that anything is possible when they finish READI Chicago.

Sidney

We change when we come here. There’s a hundred different personalities and groups here, but we leave all that at the door when we come to READI.

Ubeka

After prison, I knew I needed to steer myself in the right direction and focus on what matters. Now I look at READI as a privilege, something to aspire to.

Eric

It feels good. It’s motivating and exciting. You don’t have to worry about getting robbed or going to jail.

Saidrick

I learn stuff in READI Chicago every day. I’m just trying to pay it forward and help whoever I can, just like they’re helping me.

Anthony

If you take the time to think before you act, you get a better result.

Zo

READI Chicago helped me out a lot with understanding life and the positions I need to put myself in to succeed.

Tevin

My mom is so happy. When I left the house every day, she used to tell me to be careful. Now she just smiles and says, ‘Have a good day.’

REAL TALK. REAL HOPE. REAL LOVE. BE BOLD.
CONNECT WITH US.

Donate

SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR LOCAL PARTNER ORGANIZATIONS, EVALUATION PARTNERS, AND FUNDERS FOR THEIR STRONG COMMITMENT AND COLLABORATION IN READI CHICAGO:

LOCAL PARTNER ORGANIZATIONS

Centers for New Horizons

Heartland Alliance Englewood Outreach

Heartland Human Care Services

Institute for Nonviolence Chicago

North Lawndale Employment Network

FUNDERS

Paul M. Angell Family Foundation

AT&T Foundation

The Boeing Company

The Chicago Community Trust

Chicago Sports Alliance, a McCormick Foundation Fund

The Crown Family

Frechette Family Foundation

Lloyd A. Fry Foundation

Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority

JPMorgan Chase & Co.

John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation

Marc and Jeanne Malnati Family Foundation

Robert R. McCormick Foundation

Mutual of America Foundation

Partnership for Safe and Peaceful Communities

Polk Bros. Foundation

Pritzker Foundation

Telligen Community Initiative

The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation

EVALUATION PARTNERS

University of Chicago Crime and Poverty Labs

Heartland Alliance Social IMPACT Research Center