CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Earlier Thursday, Governor Pritzker was in Warrenville to help cut the ribbon on a new barber college and cosmetology school for incarcerated young people.The school is part of the Illinois Youth Center in Warrenville, and Governor Pritzker said Salon Maya and Hope Barber College are the first accredited programs of their kind in the Department of Juvenile Justice, and he had words of encouragement for the students.
"I truly believe that being a barber is about far more than style and hair," Pritzker said. "It's about relationships and business." The school’s been established by Larry Roberts, who opened the first barber college in the Cook County Department of Corrections. He said this program is for youth facing insurmountable odds.
"You stay in and out of trouble as a young adult into adulthood, and you say, you know what, I am going to stay out of trouble, because I am tired of going to jail. You seek employment to take care of you and your family, only to get denied job, after job, after job," Roberts said.
Now, there’s hope.
He assured them that he and the others there see the students for who they are now, and believe they will be successful.The Governor was leading the applause.