Richardson Understands Value of Second Chance, Proudly Supports Safer
The corner office on the seventh floor of City Hall is about what you’d expect for a lifelong Chicago public servant. On one wall, flags buttress a portrait of a young Mayor Richard M. Daley. Across the room, a large wooden desk sits framed between two windows. On it rests an ashtray with a chewed but unlit cigar, harkening back to a time when tobacco smoke filled the city’s seat of power. In front of everything on the desk is an ornate carved nameplate with the words “Robert Richardson, Deputy Commissioner.”
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City of Chicago Partners with Safer Foundation on Green Jobs Program
The City of Chicago is committed to improving our local environment and strives to be the greenest city in the nation. In September of 2008, we released the Chicago Climate Action Plan - CCAP (www.chicagoclimateaction.org) that describes the significant effects climate change could have on our city along with how to address those challenges. CCAP’s key focus areas include energy efficient buildings, clean and renewable energy sources, improved transportation options, reduced waste and industrial pollution and adaptation.
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WIA Program Helps Safer Client Gain Security
December 21, 2009 – Angeline Johnson has accomplished a lot since arriving as a client at Safer Foundation’s downtown Chicago office. Since beginning a job readiness programming in June, Johnson has utilized Safer’s Workforce Investment Act (WIA) services to complete an unarmed security guard training program.
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Safer Helps Turn Up the Heat
November 24, 2009 – With Chicago’s notoriously brutal winter fast approaching, the need for reliable heating becomes a top priority. With this in mind, Safer Foundation partnered with the Hope Organization to provide a workshop for clients who might qualify for assistance to pay for their utility bills.
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YEP West Loop Learning Center Hosts Career Fair
November 4, 2009 – As part of an effort to show their students what opportunities are available to them upon obtaining their GEDs, the staff and volunteers at the Safer Foundation’s Youth Empowerment Program West Loop Learning Center (YEP) hosted a career fair today.
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Safer Employer Cox Receives Business Leadership Award
October 22, 2009 – For Christopher Cox, it’s always just been about finding the right employees for the job. As Director of Operations at Metro Kleeners in Evanston, Cox helped create an employment environment that has allowed people with criminal records the chance to reenter society with an opportunity to build their resumes. For his efforts, Cox received the Illinois Business Leadership Award at the annual Illinois Workforce Development Conference sponsored by the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity in Springfield.
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CareVan Gives North Lawndale a Shot in the Arm
October 2, 2009 – As the calendar turns to October and the temperatures drop, it’s beginning to look a lot like fall. Unfortunately, it also marks the beginning of flu season.In order to preemptively strike at the flu bug, North Lawndale Adult Transition Center (ATC) has formed a partnership with the Chicago Department of Public Health to provide the Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Illinois CareVan at the facility every month.
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Davenport YEP Helps Kids Against Hunger
October 1, 2009 – Earlier this month, 15 students and five staff members from the Davenport Youth Empowerment Program (YEP) found out that a little bit goes a long way in terms of world hunger. Working with Kids Against Hunger – Your Quad Cities, the volunteers assembled 3,000 meals, most of which destined for Nicaragua or Honduras. A percentage of the meals also stayed in the area to help stock local food pantries in the Quad Cities area.
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A Trip to Harvard
September 11, 2009 - Safer Foundation's President/CEO was on the move this week. B. Diane Williams accepted an invitation to participate in a meeting of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Task Force on the "Challenges of Mass Incarceration in America."
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Joyce Foundation Releases Transitional Jobs Report
August 12, 2009 -- The Joyce Foundation recently presented the findings from its Transitional Jobs Reentry Demonstration. The report stresses that the number of people in prison in America has quadrupled over the past three decades. States spend over $38 billion per year on prison costs, a number that factors out to over $134 per citizen. By promoting reentry programs like the ones offered by Safer Foundation, communities can help lower recidivism rates and dramatically cut both the fiscal and human costs of imprisonment.
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Internal Exile, Collateral Consequences of Conviction in Federal Laws and Regulations
February 2009-A joint project of the ABA Commission on Effective Criminal Sanctions (Commission) and the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia (PDS), it is an outgrowth of both entities’ work on the effect of a criminal record on the availability of a wide range of benefits and opportunities, which in turn determines a person’s likely ability to rebuild his or her life after a criminal conviction.
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Safer Foundation Featured in “Recidivism Drops in Illinois” article on the MacArthur Foundation website.
May 2008-Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich announced the lowest conviction rate among parolees in state history and a 23 percent reduction in arrests among the general parolee population.
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Safer Foundation, White House Faith-Based And Community Initiative Honor of Hope Awardee
June 2008-When Vincent Johnson was released from prison for the
second time, he went to the Safer Foundation in Chicago
to try to find work. Vincent was matched with a mentor
from Valley Kingdom Ministries, a Safer Foundation faithbased
partner.
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U.S. Conference of Mayors – Rock Island Mayor Speaks About Safer Programming
July 2008-While most of the focus on coordinated reentry initiatives for ex-offenders tends to be on large urban centers, mid'sized cities such as Rock Island are not immune to the challenges that the ex-offender population can present. In Rock Island, we are proud to have a 32-year history of providing coordinated reentry services to residents through a collaborative relationship with the Safer Foundation and Rock Island County.
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Ready4Reentry, Prisoner Reentry Toolkit
February 2008-This toolkit, based on the Ready4Work model, is a
promising practices guide for small to medium sized faith-based and community organizations interested in starting or bolstering their reentry efforts. The work of the Safer Foundation's Faith-Based team is highlighted throughout the publication that was recently released by the U.S. Department of Labor.
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Congressman Danny K. Davis announces that the U. S. House of Representatives Passed the Landmark Second Chance Act of 2007
November 2007-Congressman Danny K. Davis, chief sponsor of the historic Second Chance Act of 2007 applauded his colleagues in both the House of Representatives and the U. S. Senate, members from both sides of the aisle, for moving the Second Chance Act of 2007 to the point where a vote was held in the U. S. House of Representatives on Tuesday, November 13, 2007, and the measure passed 347-62.
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Transitional Employment Helps Curb Recidivism,
Boost Corporate Bottom Line
September 2007–State and local elected officials, community stakeholders, and business leaders joined Allied Waste Services and the Safer Foundation on September 24 to tout a partnership that has resulted in the employment of over 1,000 formerly incarcerated individuals, and to call on Chicago-area businesses to work with organizations such as the Safer Foundation to hire people with criminal records.
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