Chicago Tribune Commentary: Hiring returning citizens is good for business

From The Chicago Tribune — June 13, 2018

Even as the labor market tightens and more than 6 million U.S. jobs remain unfilled, the search for a job can be formidable. This process is exponentially worse for someone who has a criminal record.

Even if they get through the interview process, ex-offenders face an application that likely asks if they have ever been convicted of a felony. For too many businesses, an affirmative answer to that question is a deal breaker — a major setback for those trying to get their lives back in order.

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Learn more about the program featured in this article, READI Chicago.

Chicago Tribune: In hopes of stopping bloodshed, a multimillion-dollar effort is providing jobs, therapy to city’s most violent

From The Chicago Tribune — June 8, 2018

The brakes of the No. 52 Kedzie bus groaned to a stop about 8:30 a.m., and the doors swooshed open.

Corey Givens hopped on and settled into the middle of the bus, holding his backpack as he looked out the window.

Givens was disappointed he wasn’t heading to his job in a work van that day but instead had to catch the bus to go to the branch courthouse at Grand and Central avenues on Chicago’s Northwest Side. He faced a hearing on a misdemeanor charge for peddling weed, the less serious of his two pending criminal cases.

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Learn more about the Heartland Alliance program featured in this article, READI Chicago.

Report: Illinois’ Poor More Often Victims Of Violent Crime

People living in poverty are more likely to become victims of violent crime than higher income earners whether they live in cities, suburbs or rural areas, but the rural poor experience crime at higher rates, according to a Wednesday report by a Chicago research group.

Heartland Alliance, a nonprofit organization, analyzed the overlap between poverty and crime at state and national levels for the first time in the nearly two decades it has studied poverty in Illinois. The group’s 44-page report cites census data, federal statistics and studies featuring victim interviews.

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Obama Foundation Announces Establishment of Inclusion Council

October 11,  2016 – Today, the Obama Foundation announced the creation of the Obama Foundation Inclusion Council. The mission of the new Council is to ensure that the ongoing work of the Foundation is informed by a diverse set of views and opinions and in line with the values of diversity and inclusion.

The initial members of the Diversity and Inclusion Council are:

  • Melody Spann Cooper, Chairman, WVON Radio; Co-Chair
  • Connie Lindsey, Executive Vice President & Head of Corporate Social Responsibility and Global Diversity & Inclusion, Northern Trust; Co-Chair
  • William A. Von Hoene, Jr., Senior Executive Vice President & Chief Strategy Officer, Exelon; Co-Chair
  • Ken Bennett, Senior Advisor, Public Policy and Community Affairs, Choose Chicago
  • Marca Bristo, President & Chief Executive Officer, Access Living
  • Ellen-Blair Chube, Managing Director & Client Service Officer, William Blair
  • Jamie Citron, Development Chief of Staff, The Barack Obama Foundation
  • Evelyn Diaz, President, Heartland Alliance
  • Sidney Dillard, Partner & Head of Corporate Investment Banking, Loop Capital
  • Brett Hart, Executive Vice President, United Airlines
  • Perri Irmer, President, DuSable Museum
  • Weldon Latham, Principal, Jackson Lewis; Council Lead Attorney
  • Langdon Neal, Principal & Owner, Neal & Leroy, LLC
  • Nadia Quarles, Assistant Vice President for Business Development, University of Chicago
  • Laura Ricketts, Owner, Chicago Cubs
  • Eli Williamson, Co-Founder & President, Leave No Veteran Behind
  • Bernarda Wong, Founder & President, Chinese American Service League

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Work to start on apartments for homeless near downtown Milwaukee next summer

Construction could start in summer 2017 to convert Milwaukee County’s former work-release building near the courthouse into 60 affordable apartments.

At least half of those apartments would be for people who are homeless, or at risk of becoming homeless. The remaining apartments would have income limits for residents. The project at 1004 N. 10th St. has been under discussion since 2014, and lead developer Heartland Housing Inc. is lining up its financing to make it happen.

In addition to the housing, the building renovation will create more space for St. Ben’s Community Meal Program, which is in a neighboring property. The St. Ben’s space in the new building will mean people waiting for a meal won’t have to wait in line outside, and can access showers, laundry machines and computers, Matt Melendes, Heartland Housing associate director of real estate development, told Milwaukee County officials Monday.

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