Jobs

READI for Solidarity

Last week, READI Chicago staff, participants, and partners from across the city gathered in North Lawndale for a Day of Solidarity to amplify the voices of those most impacted by the Chicago 2020 Riots and COVID-19.

Following weeks of protests pushing for national transformation following the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery, and countless other violent acts perpetrated against black people, READI Chicago participants expressed that they need to have a strong voice, assume a leadership role in their communities, and begin to help those communities recover. The neighborhoods READI Chicago works in, many of which are still recovering from riots in 1968 after the murder of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., were hit especially hard by the recent riots, and participants were eager to come together to help their communities begin to heal.

“We asked our participant advisory committee what they thought the City should do to help their neighborhoods, and they responded by asking what they could do themselves to help,” said READI Chicago’s Kimeco Roberson, who organized the Day of Solidarity. “The participants came up with this idea and really took the lead.”

The day began at UCAN with a restorative justice circle that included participants from the West and South Sides, as well as community members including Rev. Marvin Hunter, great-uncle of Laquan McDonald, and his wife; North Lawndale Employment Network Executive Director Brenda Palms-Barber; 24th Ward Alderman Michael Scott; and two Chicago Police Department officers from the 11th District.

Members of the morning’s restorative justice circle joined with members of the broader community that afternoon for a walk of solidarity through North Lawndale and a balloon release honoring READI Chicago participants whom we have lost this year.

“The impact of seeing the officers and the participants lead the walk together really drove home the values of real love, real hope, and real talk,” Kimeco said. “The community received us so well. People were honking their horns, joining the march, and cheering their support.”

The Day of Solidarity was a part of READI Chicago’s broader efforts to support black communities throughout our city and country in the wake of weeks of protests and riots. READI Chicago’s Englewood Outreach team hit the streets immediately after the city’s first protests to help businesses and community members clean up and recover, and the team even sent a group of outreach workers and participants to Minneapolis to provide protesters there with food and essentials.

Gun Violence Awareness Day

READI Chicago, an innovative response to gun violence in Chicago, recognizes that gun violence in our city remains concentrated among a small number of highly disadvantaged neighborhoods, disproportionately impacting our most vulnerable citizens.

Following two straight weekends of historic violence, we can see how much more work there is to do in our city. While there is no one solution to gun violence, we are seeing that READI Chicago is making a difference in the lives of the men we serve.

“It makes guys who never would have said anything to each other in the street talk and put their differences aside,” said Saidrick, a participant in READI Chicago. “I know I react to situations differently. I think more, take more responsibility and think about the consequences.”

For Gun Violence Awareness Day 2020, we chose to uplift some of the people in READI Chicago who are working against gun violence and building a better future for all Chicagoans. Click below to hear directly from people on the frontlines about how they are making a difference.

Anthony Michelle
Scottie Anthony Spencer

 

Why Transitional Workforce Strategies Are Needed Now

By Melissa Young, Chris Warland, and Livia Lam

Both the public health and economic fallouts from the COVID-19 outbreak are expected to be massive. Making certain our essential workforce is protected through expanded paid leave, ensured food and housing assistance, enhanced unemployment insurance, cash payments and other targeted measures is decisively the blunt force needed for short-term countercyclical change. As the country mobilizes to beat the public health crisis, we must do even more to prepare our workforce against the economic devastation to come.

Even before the outbreak, job quality and working conditions were awful for low-wage workers. Now these workers are on the frontline of this crisis or they have been laid off as their employers are closing shop. The crisis has laid bare long-standing structural problems that have generated precarious employment conditions and job insecurity in the American labor market. The coronavirus recession only magnifies economic inequality by how women, people of color and immigrants are disproportionately impacted and why the need to strengthen protections for our workforce is urgent.

Moving forward, large-scale federal jobs programs and workforce responses that aim to change existing employment structures are necessary to counter the magnitude of growing coronavirus cases and snowballing job losses. Despite enacting targeted economic relief for small and mid-sized employers and bailouts for large corporations, post-COVID-19 unemployment is estimated to reach 30 percent or higher, and unemployment claims are already spiking to unprecedented levels. As layoffs accelerate, what’s needed is a comprehensive response. Guided by the principle that everyone who wants to work should have access to a quality job, subsidized employment is a proven workforce strategy for people looking for work. 

Looking back, the 2009 Recovery Act responded to an extraordinarily severe loss of jobs caused by the Great Recession. States were given resources to implement subsidized employment strategies quickly and cost-effectively, putting large numbers of people into jobs who would not otherwise be working. These strategies were popular with workers and employers alike. In addition, several studies of transitional jobs programs — which combine subsidized employment with training and support services and are targeted to people who face more barriers to employment — showed that chronically unemployed individuals are eager to work when their barriers to employment are addressed.

While the subsidized jobs programs made a significant impact on increasing employment during the last recession, these efforts only met a fraction of the overall need at that time. As Congress contemplates its next set of relief measures, federally funded workforce responses should be proportionally larger than what was earmarked for the last recession. These responses must also be designed to ensure equitable outcomes in employment for communities disproportionately affected by both the pandemic and the resulting economic fallout.  That means federal interventions to boost employment must aim to narrow jobs deficits while also addressing systems reforms designed to expand workforce consumer protections. 

To implement effective subsidized jobs initiatives, states need to be equipped to employ subsidized workers directly in public service and infrastructure jobs in addition to private sector employment. Additionally, any plans to beef up existing workforce programming should set aside funding for transitional jobs programs targeted to the workers most in need to help ensure that subsidized employment is available to chronically unemployed individuals who have difficulty accessing work even in a good economy.  

Specifically, these workforce response activities should include benchmark and reporting data for racial and gender equity in employment outcomes as well as incorporate a dashboard of multiple indicators to measure job quality. Policymakers should also apply guardrails to ensure that the availability of subsidized employment is not used to deny eligible people support that help them afford basics like food and medicine, or to compel people to accept subsidized employment as a condition of receiving basic support.

Perhaps surviving this economic crisis shouldn’t have demanded worker protections as an emergency response. The reality moving forward is that we need workforce responses that drive equitable access to labor markets over the long-term. Let’s not look back on this extraordinary moment as the time we turned our back on low-wage workers yet again.

Melissa Young is a senior director in the research and policy division at the Heartland Alliance. Chris Warland is an associate director for national initiatives at the Heartland Alliance. Livia Lam is a senior fellow and director of workforce development policy at the Center for American Progress.

This piece was originally published on the Morning Consult website.

Testifying for Victim Services

READI Chicago Senior Director Eddie Bocanegra gave an overview of READI Chicago amid COVID-19 to Illinois legislators and decision-makers in a virtual town hall, “What Illinois Decision Makers and Providers Need to Know About Violence Prevention and Victim Services in the COVID-19 Crisis.” The town hall, organized by the Alliance for Safety and Justice and an array of violence prevention and victim services organizations, explored how COVID-19 has impacted essential services in Illinois and how to best protect the people and communities most at risk.

In addition to Eddie, the town hall featured Rep. Kelly Cassidy, Chair of the Public Safety Appropriations Committee; Sen. Heather Steans, Chair of the Appropriations Committee II; and Jason Stamps, Executive Director of the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority.

During his testimony, Eddie applauded Attorney General Kwame Raoul for expanding who Illinois recognizes as a crime survivor and increasing access to supports for those least likely to receive services. This is the very population that READI Chicago was designed to work with, recognizing that crime victims and perpetrators are often the same people.

“The men we serve live in environments where they are much more likely to be shot or killed,” Eddie said. “We often don’t talk about what it must be like to live as a young black or brown man in those communities—where you are 70 percent more likely to be shot than the average Chicagoan. For the men READI Chicago engages, we think about this on an individual level—when you do this, it is easier to understand why we must engage them in more intensive programming.”

Eddie urged legislators and state leaders to continue prioritizing violence prevention as a strategy that serves the state’s and city’s overall efforts to mitigate the risks of COVID-19. This includes paying particular attention to the needs of people of color who are disproportionately contracting and dying of this virus here in Chicago.

“We are seeing the strength and resilience of our participants and staff, and we are hearing how our men feel connected during this crisis,” Eddie said. “Participants are reaching out to us for support—and this says a lot given how isolated and disconnected many of these men felt before their involvement with READI Chicago.”

More ways to get involved

  • Follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram to stay updated on the latest developments with our work.
  • Share stories of our courageous participants and employees, and help us spread accurate information about how to keep vulnerable populations safe from COVID-19.
  • Make a gift to help employees across the Alliance provide access to critical supportive services to those who are most vulnerable. 
  • Donate homemade masks to help fight COVID-19.

We are grateful for the support and care you have for the individuals we serve, and for our employees who are on the frontlines every day. 

Reducing Violence Amid COVID-19

Despite Chicago’s shelter-in-place order, violence in our city has not decreased amid COVID-19—in fact, last week saw the most violent day of 2020 so far. As we strive to keep our participants safe from infection, we also recognize that our services remain a critical component of that safety.

We are hearing directly from the men we serve that they want to stay engaged with READI Chicago during this pandemic, and we are committed to continuing to deliver robust services to the best of our ability.

We have moved case management, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), and professional development (PD) to online and remote platforms whenever possible, and outreach teams have been providing food and other essential resources to participants while practicing social distancing.

We also recognize that there are misconceptions in the communities we serve about the risk of COVID-19, even as we know that the virus will disproportionately impact the men and communities we serve. We see dispelling myths and disseminating accurate information about COVID-19 as an imperative, and we have begun activating staff and participants as credible messengers in their communities to help spread accurate and culturally competent information about the virus and how to stay safe.

We remain steadfast in our commitment to our staff, participants, partners, and communities. We have always known that READI Chicago is a public health intervention, and now we are seeing that reality through new eyes.

Hear directly from our staff and participants below about how we are relentlessly persisting through COVID-19.

Read more: Outreach

Read more: Service Delivery

Read more: Participant Impact

More ways to get involved

  • Follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram to stay updated on the latest developments with our work.
  • Share stories of our courageous participants and employees, and help us spread accurate information about how to keep vulnerable populations safe from COVID-19.
  • Make a gift to help employees across the Alliance provide access to critical supportive services to those who are most vulnerable. 
  • Donate homemade masks to help fight COVID-19.

We are grateful for the support and care you have for the individuals we serve, and for our employees who are on the frontlines every day. 

Thank You READI Chicago for Your Bold Approach to COVID-19

Dear READI Chicago family,

As our nation and city face uncertainty amid COVID-19, we have been continually impressed and proud of the courage and tenacity that every one of you has shown day-in and day-out. We have seen you practice relentless engagement and real talk, real hope, and real love in every one of your interactions.

Our top priority is the safety of our staff and participants, and we know that the services READI Chicago provides each and every day are a vital part of that. We have seen that violence has not decreased despite the shelter-in-place order, and it is invaluable that our staff and participants are finding new and creative ways to remain focused as we all face uncertainty.

On behalf of READI Chicago and Heartland Alliance, thanks to the READI Chicago family for stepping up, whether that’s through collaboration across communities, tuning into virtual CBT every day, or working long hours to support the program. We are immensely proud to be a part of the READI Chicago family.

Take care and stay safe,

Eddie Bocanegra
Senior Director

Miguel Cambray
Director of Career Pathways

Javon Gregoire
Deputy Director

Marci Kresin
Director of Operations

Chasda Martin
Director of Programs

More ways to get involved

  • Follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram to stay updated on the latest developments with our work.
  • Share stories of our courageous participants and employees, and help us spread accurate information about how to keep vulnerable populations safe from COVID-19.
  • Make a gift to help employees across the Alliance provide access to critical supportive services to those who are most vulnerable. 
  • Donate homemade masks to help fight COVID-19.

We are grateful for the support and care you have for the individuals we serve, and for our employees who are on the frontlines every day. 

READI Chicago: Responding to COVID-19

Last updated March 17, 2020

Dear READI Chicago partners,

In anticipation of the ongoing spread of COVID-19 across the globe, Heartland Alliance is taking steps to help slow the potential spread of the virus among employees, participants, partners, and the broader community. We want you to know that the safety and well-being of our employees and participants is our top priority, and we know that our services are an important part of that safety. We are committed to continuing to deliver robust services to our men to the best of our ability, understanding that we must consider guidance from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the World Health Organization, and state and local officials.

Read about Heartland Alliance’s response to COVID-19 here.

Program Adaptations

Our staff are hearing directly from participants that they want to stay engaged with READI Chicago during this pandemic. In order to continue providing participant-facing services, we will adapt our approach to prioritize both the health of employees and participants, and the safety of our participants and their communities, by limiting face-to-face interactions whenever possible.

Effective March 17, 2020, READI Chicago is implementing changes in the following areas

  • Outreach Activity: READI Chicago outreach teams are seeing that violence patterns continue to be active despite COVID-19, and therefore, they remain committed to relentless engagement. Outreach teams will be using technology when possible to remotely check in with participants daily. Outreach staff are also building awareness and educating communities about the spread of the virus and dispelling myths.
  • Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT): We are taking steps to encourage social distancing, including reducing the size of in-person CBT and professional development groups, and moving these groups to online platforms when possible. Our coaches and crew chiefs are focused on staying connected to our participants, already at high risk of isolation, by checking in daily and supporting a community approach to ensure that participants are prioritizing their own health and that of their families and communities.
  • Transitional Jobs (TJ): READI Chicago partners are encouraging social distancing during TJ work hours by reducing the size of work crews. In anticipation of employer partner closures, we are working to identify alternative work projects to help participants maintain their income. In instances when transitional employment cannot safely continue, we are working to develop increased professional development programming and have committed to ensuring that active participants will continue to receive wages until safe subsidized employment is possible.

Community Education

READI Chicago also recognizes that there are misconceptions in the communities we serve about the risk of COVID-19. We also know that COVID-19 will disproportionately impact our low-income neighbors and communities. READI Chicago partners see dispelling myths and disseminating accurate information about COVID-19 as an imperative. READI Chicago will activate staff and participants as credible messengers in their communities to help spread accurate and culturally competent information about the virus and how to stay safe.

Moving Forward

We remain steadfast in our commitment to our READI Chicago staff, participants, partners, and communities. We have always known that READI Chicago is a public health intervention, and now we are seeing that reality through new eyes. Given the evolving nature of this public health crisis, know that READI Chicago leadership across partners is in daily communication—please expect that planning and guidance will continue to evolve.

In the meantime, we encourage everyone to take care of your health and well-being. If you are sick, stay home. Please limit face-to-face interactions. When possible, work remotely. If you have a fever, cough, and shortness of breath, contact your health care provider immediately. Read the CDC’s recommendations if you are sick or suspect you are sick with COVID-19.

Thanks again to everyone who continues to support, champion, lead, and build our READI Chicago community. My gratitude for each of you runs deep, and you are building my confidence that we will get through this stronger, and together.

Take care,

Eddie Bocanegra
Senior Director, READI Chicago

 

 

 

 

 

More ways to get involved

  • Follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram to stay updated on the latest developments with our work.
  • Share stories of our courageous participants and employees, and help us spread accurate information about how to keep vulnerable populations safe from COVID-19.
  • Make a gift to help employees across the Alliance provide access to critical supportive services to those who are most vulnerable. 
  • Donate homemade masks to help fight COVID-19.

We are grateful for the support and care you have for the individuals we serve, and for our employees who are on the frontlines every day. 

 

Where Are They Now?

READI Chicago, while designed to decrease shootings and homicides among those at highest risk of gun violence, also aims to create new opportunities for these same individuals to change their life trajectory.

This month, we caught up with participants who finished their 18 months of subsidized employment and are now building on their successes in READI Chicago.

Tyrell Murry

Community: Englewood
READI Chicago participation: 11/2017-8/2019
Current job: Iman Carpentry Training Program

“I used to have an anger problem, but READI Chicago straightened me out. They teach you how to react to how people talk to you. You get a chance to sit around and express yourself. Everybody needs someone to talk to.”

Scottie Brown

Community: Austin/West Garfield Park
READI Chicago participation: 3/2018-9/2019
Current job: Austin/West Garfield Park READI Chicago Crew Chief

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

Read more

JacQuay Carr

Community: Austin/West Garfield Park
READI Chicago participation: 12/2017-9/2019
Current job: Restaurant General Manager

“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.”

Read more

Brandon Davis

Community: North Lawndale
READI Chicago participation: 9/2017-6/2019
Current job: Head Cook, Buzz Cafe

“I learned a lot with my attitude from READI Chicago. I don’t snap on people anymore. I take my time to think things through. CBT works.”

Jermaine Jackson

Community: North Lawndale
READI Chicago participation: 5/2018-11/2019
Current job: X-Ray Machine Operator, Koch Foods

“READI Chicago helped me understand that you can always go forward—you don’t have to focus on the past. It helps me get up every morning with a smile on my face and do what I have to do.”

Statement: Governor’s 2021 Budget Sets Illinois on a Path to Stability

As a human rights organization dedicated to equity and opportunity for all, Heartland Alliance supports many of the values that Governor Pritzker emphasized in his proposed 2021 Illinois budget and in yesterday’s budget address. However, as a state, we have a lot of work to do in order to ensure that Illinois is a state that provides all residents the opportunity to thrive and not struggle to make ends meet.

The fair tax constitutional amendment, which will allow for a state graduated income tax if it passes in November, is key to making bolder strategic investments. The proposed fair tax will give working families a tax cut, raise taxes for the top three percent  of earners who make more than a quarter-million dollars, and generate more than $3 billion in new revenue per year to invest in our communities. Illinois has underinvested in health, human services, and education for far too long and it is time to fully fund the services our communities desperately need. We commend the Governor for his leadership in supporting this a tax policy that will benefit the majority Illinoisans.

The Governor’s address also spoke to recently pardoning 11,000 people who had cannabis-related convictions. Heartland Alliance commends the Governor for his leadership and we look forward to future investments that break down barriers related to housing, employment, and education for the many people across our state who have been justice-involved.

The Governor’s 2021 budget proposal provides important investments that promote equity and opportunity for all, including:

Health and healing

  • Provides for much-needed additional staff at the Department of Human Services to help with and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP);
  • Invests state dollars in Navigators, community-based professionals who will provide Illinoisans assistance in obtaining Affordable Care Act and Medicaid health coverage; and
  • Allocates new state dollars to support expanded community-based mental health and substance use treatment.

Safety and justice

  • Stabilizes funding for community-based violence intervention and prevention programs, and adds funding for more comprehensive clinics for survivors of trauma.

Economic opportunity

  • Doubles the state’s investment in “SNAP to Success,” which leverages additional federal funding to provide people who receive SNAP with education, skills training, supportive services, and job placement assistance;
  • Injects hundreds of millions of additional dollars into the state through the implementation of Integrated Health Homes, a new care coordination model to support people enrolled in Medicaid who have significant physical and behavioral health needs; and
  • Invests in critical services for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness, such as youth and adults who need emergency, transitional, and supportive housing.

We urge the Governor and the General Assembly to work together to pass a budget that invests in bold solutions, addresses Illinois’s finances, and positions the state to ensure equity and opportunity for ALL.

Celebrating Chicago’s Progress & Promise in Reducing Gun Violence

This month, Senior Director Eddie Bocanegra spoke alongside other violence prevention leaders, local government, police, community organizations, and participants as part of Chicago CRED’s Violence Reduction 2020 event.

Eddie Bocanegra with Chicago CRED Managing Partner Arne Duncan

Chicago CRED, READI Chicago, Metropolitan Family Services, and other violence prevention advocates came together to commit to reducing violence in Chicago by 20 percent in 2020. This 20 percent decrease would bring the number of homicides below 400 for the first time since 1965.

“We know it’s ambitious, but we also know that it’s possible through citywide collaboration and investment in our communities,” Eddie said. “Every shooting we prevent not only saves lives, but saves money, restores hope, and brings us one step closer to breaking the cycle of violence and trauma. Our data is showing us that this can work.”

Since a dramatic spike in homicides and shootings in 2016, gun violence across Chicago has dropped by 35-40 percent, a decrease that police attribute to an increased use of technology among violence prevention organizations and advocates, and to a collaborative partnership between these organizations and community outreach workers.

For the first time, Chicago is investing more than $11 million to support violence prevention programs this year, up from about $1.5 million last year, and while READI Chicago applauds this investment, the philanthropic community has provided roughly $75 million in violence prevention funding in the past three years.

The coalition that gathered at the Violence Reduction 2020 event is urging Chicago to invest up to $50 million annually in violence prevention programs, and asking the State of Illinois to invest up to $100 million annually, while committing to continue raising private funds. At the same time, we are requesting that business leaders invest in communities facing high rates of violent crime and hire young men at high risk of violence involvement who need a pathway into the legal economy.

“Jobs are important; therapy is important,” Eddie said. “But we need to be advocating for resources because at the end of the day, our young men have to go back home to their communities. We as Chicagoans need to be leaders in this, to build new models for our own people and save lives.”