“You have to be so strong-minded if you’re a Black man with a criminal record in this country trying to do better,” said READI Chicago participant Jawanza. “People see you and think, how could a ‘felon’ change his life, and they never give you a chance. It’s like you’re invalid in most of society, even though you’re a person. It’s like returning to prison is your only option.”

Heartland Alliance recognizes that this is one of the critical problems that need to be addressed through criminal justice reform: too much of our country’s criminal justice system places the responsibility for change on the individual, ignoring the ways that systems of white supremacy and permanent punishments prevent people from moving forward with their lives after incarceration.

As March is Criminal Justice Awareness Month, it’s important to celebrate recent wins, such as the passage in February of Illinois’ new criminal justice reform bill, and to look at the ways that people can heal and thrive when they’re given the resources and opportunity to do so.

Jawanza has been homeless since his mother passed away in 2013, when he was just 18. For eight years, he bounced from couch to couch, spent nights on the street, and did what he needed to survive.

“Really every single thing about being homeless makes it hard to stay safe and out of trouble,” Jawanza said. “You want to do right, you want to do better, but it doesn’t really matter, because you’re still sleeping in the streets or at the mercy of whoever you’re staying with.”

While homeless, Jawanza worked multiple jobs and said there were plenty of times he had enough money to rent an apartment, but his record made that nearly impossible. When the pandemic struck last year, he went from working an average of 85 hours per week to less than 8 hours per month, and he knew he needed to try something different to survive. When a family friend approached him about joining READI Chicago, Jawanza said it was an easy decision.

“READI has taught me so much about coping strategies and looking inside myself,” Jawanza said. “I’ve really been working on my triggers and understanding how the environment and people around affect me in different situations so I don’t do something impulsive. No one can make me take an action, or take away my coping strategies—no one can touch that except for me.”

In addition to helping him heal from the past eight years and start on a different path forward, READI also helped Jawanza find housing through our partnership with Heartland Alliance’s Housing for Justice Initiative, a pilot aimed at increasing community safety by housing those at the highest risk of violence involvement through landlord mediation, education, and rental subsidies. Jawanza moved into his own studio apartment last week and said things couldn’t be better.

“I’m living a whole different lifestyle now,” Jawanza said. “READI gave me a lot of skills I don’t think I could have gotten anywhere else. I just want to keep doing better.”