Economic Opportunity

Mothers Find Support, Look Toward a Safer Chicago

When Linda decided to attend a Mothers United for Justice rally organized by the Zakat Foundation earlier this month, she looked forward to connecting and sharing stories with other women like her who had lost children to violence. Having lost three of her sons, two to gun violence just 20 days apart, Linda has learned to find comfort in connecting with other mothers.

However, Linda was also there to tell people about READI Chicago, the program she said is helping her two remaining sons work toward a safer future.

“READI Chicago has been a great opportunity for my kids—I really believe it’s going to help our neighborhoods,” Linda said. “I’m seeing it keep these guys off the street and be a support system for young people who don’t have that anywhere else.”

After losing three children in three years, Linda felt relieved when a READI Chicago outreach worker whom she had grown up with reached out to say he had a job lined up for Linda’s son Nishawn—one that would help keep him safe and off the street. Seeing how supported and successful Nishawn was in READI Chicago, Linda asked if her other son, Darron, could join as well.

Now, almost two years after Nishawn first began READI Chicago, he is operating a successful lawn-care service with another former READI Chicago participant. Darron works a second job, in addition to his subsidized employment through READI Chicago, and Linda is continuing to connect with and support other mothers who have experienced loss.

“The rally started off as a call-to-action to demand justice for these parents and their lost children, but it ended up being this large support group instead,” said Reality, a READI Chicago Englewood outreach worker who spoke at the rally, along with Sen. Dick Durbin and many of the mothers in attendance. “Seeing that can be rare because a lot of times people feel so isolated—that nobody understands what it’s like to lose a child. Here though, it was all mothers supporting each other.”

Linda was one of several mothers of participants in READI Chicago who attended the rally. Anthony, another member of the READI Chicago Englewood Outreach team, said it was a no-brainer to invite the mothers of slain READI Chicago participants to join the Englewood team at the rally.

“When we convince a guy to participate in READI Chicago, we don’t only engage them—we engage their family and community, as well,” Anthony said. “That support doesn’t stop—we maintain those relationships.”

Fighting Food Insecurity with Job Training

When COVID-19 hit Chicago in mid-March and the city began to shut down, Malik Kemokai, director of workforce development for the Greater Chicago Food Depository, immediately began thinking up new ways to address food insecurity.

“There are two ways to address hunger—we support over 700 partners with food distribution, but the other side of that is workforce development and offering people with employment barriers a path to self-sufficiency,” Malik said. “So when READI Chicago approached us because their programming had been disrupted, we knew it was a great fit to see what we could do virtually.”

Prior to COVID-19, the Food Depository offered warehouse and kitchen training programs to READI Chicago participants. Brandon, who has always been interested in restaurants and who participated in the kitchen training program, said the Food Depository was instrumental in helping him land unsubsidized work at a cafe after he completed READI. However, as Chicago sheltered in place, Malik saw and heard from the Food Depository’s partners that traditional jobs in the culinary hospitality industry were drying up.

“We had to think about where the industry is going through all of this, because in the end it really is about making sure that our students are set up for the jobs that are out there—relevant jobs,” Malik said. “That’s why we started our virtual customer service and food handling programs, tailored to people who might have a lot of employment barriers.”

The virtual program offers two hours of training per day, five days a week, and the Food Depository has set aside one third of the program slots for READI Chicago participants.

“READI Chicago has been a great partner, in-person and virtually, and we’re so encouraged by the progress we’re seeing,” Malik said. “It’s really important for us to keep working with READI Chicago and supporting populations disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 and food insecurity. That’s what we stand for at the Greater Chicago Food Depository.”

For more information on the Food Depository’s workforce development offerings, click here.

Federal Policy Recommendations July 2020

Congress Must Act Urgently to Stem This Crisis

The COVID-19 pandemic and economic crisis has continued to deepen the already existing inequities experienced by the individuals and communities we serve.

As a human rights organization dedicated to equity and opportunity for all, we urge our nation’s leaders to swiftly step up and invest in bold solutions that will stem this crisis and lead us toward recovery. Congress must act now to assist people who are struggling to make ends meet and urgently invest in Black and Latinx communities, which continue to be disproportionately and deeply impacted.

In May, the House of Representatives passed the HEROES Act, which included important investments to assist Americans during this time. Now, the Senate must act with bold and truly responsive measures that will support those most impacted for as long as necessary.

Congress must:

  1. Redress deep racial inequities exacerbated by the pandemic: Provide targeted resources for Black and Latinx communities to receive personal protection equipment, coronavirus testing, and contact tracing support from community health workers;
  2. Help families keep food on the table: Increase Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) food assistance by 15%.;
  3. Provide direct cash assistance so families can meet their basic needs: Provide more inclusive, robust, and ongoing cash supports to families for the duration of the economic crisis. This must include people who were left out of the first round of stimulus checks, such as undocumented workers and people who are part of mixed-immigration status households. When extending additional payments, implement our recommendations in order to ensure that people who should receive a payment, do receive one quickly;
  4. Fund state infrastructure: Provide states with significant resources that they can use to adequately fund all of the critical supports that help our communities thrive, such as health and human services;
  5. Increase access to homes and housing stability supports: Extend the national moratorium on evictions, foreclosures, and late payment fees for all renters and homeowners, including renters in the private market and holders of privately-backed mortgages, and provide significant investments in emergency rental assistance. Invest deeply in Emergency Solutions Grants and public housing agencies, housing providers, and new emergency Housing Choice Vouchers;
  6. Support pathways to employment and economic opportunity: Create subsidized employment and transitional jobs programs to get people to work when it is safe to do so. When the job market improves, provide ongoing funding for employment, training, education, and supportive services for jobseekers who face barriers to employment; and
  7. Maintain critical unemployment insurance for displaced workers: Extend the increased amount and expanded types of workers who can apply for unemployment insurance for the duration of the crisis, based on labor market indicators.

It will take bold leadership to overcome the immense harm caused by this crisis and the centuries of inequities that preceded it.

The Jobs for Economic Recovery Act

An Important Step Toward an Equitable Economic Recovery

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in an unprecedented unemployment crisis. Over 45 million people have filed joblessness claims. As the result of deeply-rooted systemic racism, the virus has ravaged communities and people of color who were already facing disproportionately high rates of poverty and unemployment prior to the crisis.  

At Heartland, we know that subsidized employment and transitional jobs can be proven strategies to quickly connect people to work, earned income, and onramps to economic opportunity—including people who have historically, and currently, face barriers to employment.

That’s why we are asking that you urge Congress to support the Jobs for Economic Recovery Act of 2020. Introduced on June 30 by Senators Tammy Baldwin (WI-D), Ron Wyden (OR-D), Chris Van Hollen (MD-D), Michael F. Bennet (D-CO) and Cory A. Booker (D-NJ) the Act will address the immediate crisis by providing funding to create or expand subsidized employment and transitional jobs programs to get people back to work, including jobseekers who have been left out and left behind.. When the public health crisis is over and the job market improves, the Act will continue to address inequities in the labor market by providing ongoing funding for employment, training, and supportive services for jobseekers who face barriers to employment. 

The Jobs for Economic Recovery Act is the type of legislation that is needed to help ensure that every person has equitable access to employment and economic opportunity today and in the future.

We urge you to voice your support. Dial the capitol switchboard at 202.224.3121 and ask to be connected to your member of Congress, and ask them to pledge their support for the Jobs for Economic Recovery Act.

READI Chicago: Real Promise for a Safer Path Forward

READI Chicago relentlessly engages men who are most at risk of gun violence victimization, providing participants up to 18 months of transitional employment, cognitive behavioral therapy, coaching, and support to provide a new path forward.

Incarceration doubles down on the drivers of gun violence in our communities: violence, trauma, and lack of investment. More than $1.3 billion was spent over five years jailing residents of Austin, West Garfield Park, North Lawndale, and Greater Englewood.

“I hope we learn from what’s working so we don’t keep doing the same thing over and over,” said Diondre, a READI Chicago participant. “I wish more people could see what we’re doing in this program.”

Early outcome analysis is showing that READI Chicago can help save lives—we are finding the right men, keeping them engaged, and trying to help them stay safe.

“It makes a huge difference seeing guys like yourself who have turned their lives around,” said Scottie, a READI Chicago crew chief and former participant. “I wanted to show other participants what is possible.”

Five Things Public Workforce Systems Should Do Now to Advance Racial Equity

Even before COVID-19, people of color experienced poverty and unemployment at disproportionately high rates. Now, people of color are experiencing devastating health and economic impacts because of the pandemic. The most recent data show nearly 17 percent unemployment among Black jobseekers and nearly 19 percent unemployment among Latinx jobseekers. Moreover, the data shows that people of color who are still employed are working in low-quality, underpaid jobs that increase their risk of contracting and dying of COVID-19. These racial inequities are unacceptable. Employment program stakeholders can and must do better—especially the public workforce system.    

The public workforce system faces some external challenges to racial equity in employment that it cannot control, such as employer discrimination and public funding cuts. However, the system has also compounded racial inequities through its own policies and practices. For example, prohibiting children at American Job Centers, instituting restrictive program eligibility criteria, or under-resourcing supportive services can effectively exclude low-income jobseekers of color who are facing barriers to employment from engaging in services. The system is not serving these jobseekers at meaningful rates. In 2018, only 0.2 percent of people exiting WIOA programming were about to exhaust TANF benefits, only 3.5 percent were experiencing homelessness, and only 10.3 percent were justice-involved. These jobseekers are disproportionately Black, face significant barriers to employment, and are likely experiencing poverty. They are the very jobseekers the public workforce system is tasked with serving, and it is failing them.       

Achieving racial equity in employment and economic opportunity will require large-scale investments, multi-level policy changes, structural transformation, and the work of numerous stakeholders. It will also require workforce leaders and staff to acknowledge and challenge their own implicit bias. As states and localities begin to address the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, there are steps the public workforce system can take now to center and advance racial equity. Doing so will help ensure that this system benefits the people who have been hardest hit by the pandemic and historically denied access to opportunity: people of color. 

    1. Center the voices of impacted populations.

      Achieving racial equity requires centering the voices of people of color with lived expertise. Local Workforce Development Boards should convene a diverse group of public workforce system stakeholders across various levels of leadership to participate in work to advance racial equity. This group should also include employment program participants of color with lived expertise of chronic unemployment. Including input of impacted groups in decisions about the design and delivery of employment programming and policies guiding local workforce systems is a critical step, but on its own does not ensure progress toward racial equity.

    2. Evaluate data and data-collection processes.

      Public workforce systems are required to collect certain data about the people they serve. These data should be used to answer questions about racial inequity in the types of employment services provided as well as the outcomes of those services. Workforce service providers must ensure that data are complete and accurate, and they must collect race-related data elements that may not be required such as history of incarceration or housing status. Workforce development systems should use these data to make the strongest possible case to stakeholders for the need to address racial inequity.

    3. Set racial equity goals and define key terms.

      Identifying goals and benchmarks explicitly related to redressing racial disparities within the public workforce development system is a way to hold the system accountable for change. The process of defining these goals will require that communities are on the same page about what racial equity would look like within their community and their system. It will also require stakeholders to collectively define key terms related to racial equity, such as implicit bias and anti-Blackness, among others. There are resources that can help define and differentiate among the terms that pertain to this work.

    4. Partner with employers to define and support their role in this work.

      Public workforce system leaders should support employers with tools to advance racial equity. This could include educating employer partners about training in racial equity and in trauma-informed care, promoting training as a requirement for partnership, and/or developing and implementing practices that will increase sustainable placement for workers of color, such as new-hire cohorts and trauma-informed management strategies. In other words, workforce development systems and providers should adopt approaches that “prepare jobs for people” rather than “prepare people for jobs,” and support employer partners in doing the same.

    5. Adopt an inclusive approach to service provision.

      Jobseekers of color and those who face significant barriers to work are disproportionately excluded from employment opportunities because public workforce agencies use subjective methods to determine “work-readiness” and because of policies and eligibility requirements that make it harder to access and stay engaged in programming. Instead, public workforce systems should adopt a zero-exclusion approach to service provision. This approach assumes employability and motivation; understands the impact that trauma and structural barriers can have on jobseeker behavior and performance; uses assessments to determine service needs rather than to screen out participants; and eliminates exclusionary policies, rules, and practices.

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

 

A Recap of Illinois Legislative Session

On May 23, the Illinois General Assembly wrapped up a historic session in Springfield, passing a state budget that provides some aid to vital services and communities that have been left particularly vulnerable during the COVID-19 pandemic. Thank you to members of the General Assembly and their staff for getting it done in the midst of this public health crisis.

The budget that was passed relies on a $5 billion line of credit from the U.S. Federal Reserve, which the legislature plans on repaying with additional state relief funds from future federal legislation, yet to be passed. In addition to the uncertainty about revenue, the budget was passed in the shadow of many other unknowns: no one knows the full economic and public health impact of the pandemic; it is uncertain whether voters will approve the fair tax ballot measure in November, which will provide much-needed additional revenue on an ongoing basis; and much could change from the outcome of the presidential election.

The budget, however, increased appropriations in a number of key areas to help better position the state to respond to health care needs and economic hardship caused by the pandemic. We believe that budgets are moral documents and, therefore, we applaud state leaders for continuing to prioritize state agencies that provide our social safety net and focusing additional investments on health and healing, economic opportunity, and safety and justice.

Health and Healing

The budget expanded Medicaid coverage to include low-income seniors who were previously ineligible due to their immigration status. We commend members and our Healthy Illinois coalition partners on this new reform, which is groundbreaking; no other state has provided health care coverage to undocumented seniors.

In addition, investments were made to support community health centers so that they can remain open and continue providing vital services. Funding was also increased for COVID-19 testing, local health departments, and staff to process Medicaid applications. Finally, emergency rules were codified so that Medicaid coverage can be extended for up to one year after the crisis ends.

Economic Opportunity

The budget provided for meaningful investments in affordable housing, rental assistance, and mortgage assistance. It slightly increased funding for supportive housing services and homeless youth services. In addition, funding was provided for immigrant families who are struggling to make ends meet during the pandemic. We thank members and our advocate partners on securing that assistance for families.


Safety and Justice

The budget preserved programs that support people reentering communities from the criminal legal system, and provide mental health and employment services. 

We urge the Governor to sign a budget that maintains the values presented in the current bill. And while many other policy reforms we were pursuing were set aside, we look forward to continuing to work on them together to ensure equity and opportunity for all.

Get My Payment Illinois Launches

A New Website to Help Illinoisans Receive Their Stimulus Check

Many of our neighbors who most need their CARES Act stimulus payments may have difficulty getting them. Illinois residents with the lowest incomes, particularly those without bank accounts, permanent housing, or a computer all face extra obstacles in obtaining these payments. Many are struggling to find accurate, up-to-date information about their eligibility and next steps.

That’s why we are part of a coalition that launched www.GetMyPaymentIL.org last week. The website pulls together clear information to help Illinoisans:

  •  Learn if they need to register for a payment if they don’t normally file income tax returns.
  • Get a bank account to receive their payment faster, instead of waiting months for a paper check.
  • Find tax information and assistance to get their payment.
  • Answer questions about their stimulus checks (also known as Economic Impact Payments) such as whether it impacts their public benefits or what Social Security recipients need to do next.

The website is a straightforward resource for everyday people and includes information to help nonprofits spread the word. Paper posters and flyers are also available for food pantries, schools, and shelters that still have a physical presence in the community even during the stay-at-home order.

Residents have until October 15th to request their Economic Impact Payment from the federal government and can claim it when they file their 2020 tax returns, so this is just round one. Over the coming weeks, we’ll be: 

  • Launching a hotline to answer questions and provide help;
  • Working with partners to support those who can’t access the payments because they don’t have an address or access to the internet;
  • Fundraising to provide small grants to community partners to do targeted outreach across the digital divide in high-need communities around Illinois;
  • Translating the website and materials in other languages and providing more information for those without a Social Security Number; and
  • Getting the word out about these resources.

The Get My Payment Illinois Coalition is a collaborative effort led by Heartland Alliance, Ladder Up, the Economic Awareness Council, and New America Chicago in partnership with Woodstock Institute. Special thanks to The Chicago Community Trust, Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, City of Chicago, Illinois Comptroller’s Office, Economic Security for Illinois, The Joyce Foundation, and The Steans Family Foundation for their partnership.