The University of Chicago Crime Lab hosted a READI Chicago forum this month, giving researchers an opportunity to hear directly from frontline outreach and transitional jobs (TJ) staff.
Researchers at the Urban Labs are responsible for evaluating READI Chicago to assess its effectiveness and impact on participants’ violence involvement, and researchers often work with READI Chicago leadership to help implement the program model. As we anticipate preliminary results of the trial this fall, the forum gave researchers an in-depth look at the real-life relationships and day-to-day program work behind the data.
“We at Urban Labs have a lot of opportunities to hear from academics and not as many to hear from practitioners,” Crime Lab Research Manager Michelle Ochoa said. “We wanted to highlight the work they’ve done in front of other stakeholders who aren’t typically exposed to their stories. It was like being able to put all the pieces of the puzzle together.”
Chris Blattman, a principal investigator on the READI Chicago evaluation and a professor at the Harris School of Public Policy, hosted two panels, one comprised of READI Chicago outreach workers and the other of TJ staff. In the first panel, UCAN Outreach Manager Patrick Daniels, Lawndale Christian Legal Center Outreach Manager Shanika Brown, and the Institute for Nonviolence Chicago’s Marcus Floyd discussed the uniqueness of READI Chicago outreach and how outreach workers tackle one of the most difficult aspects of the READI Chicago model — engaging men who are disconnected from social services and who are not seeking them out.
“We’re evolving the role of outreach workers,” Patrick said. “We’re called outreach, but we’re also school advocates, we’re court advocates, we’re family advocates. Typically, an outreach worker would pass that off to a caseworker, but we do it all. When we meet guys where they’re at, we really meet them where they’re at.”
The panelists discussed the many ways they perform relentless engagement, from working “midday shifts” so outreach workers are available after work hours to helping find childcare for participants’ children.
The second panel comprised of North Lawndale Employment Network Crew Manager Bernida Davenport, Centers for New Horizons Coach Joanne Sainvilier, and Heartland Human Care Services Crew Manager Angela Belton-Gibson. Panelists discussed the implementation of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and transitional jobs, as well as the skills required to engage these men and address various barriers over a two-year period.
“Some of these men come in not wanting to change at first,” Angela said. “But then they go through CBT and they see how much we care, and we can really see them start to buy in.”
The Crime Lab said they hope this forum was only the first of more panels to come.
“To be able to present these stories to researchers who see numbers attached to names all day gives a different perspective to people in the office,” Urban Labs Research Manager Michael Tatone said. “We see participants leveling up in an Excel database, but to hear from an outreach worker who convinced that participant, who addressed his safety concerns, and then from a crew chief who believes in him, that’s something that’s hard to see when you’re in an office. That perspective is so important.”
