CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Mayor Lightfoot has signed an executive order creating a panel tasked with helping ex-cons have a more successful return to society.
The first-of-its-kind Interagency Reentry Council - made up of city departments, social service agencies, and those who have spent time behind bars - will be tasked with helping those reentering society, with things like jobs, housing and healthcare. It is the result of a working group that Mayor Lightfoot set up last spring.
"It's more than past time for us to stand up as a city, in a coordinated fashion, and make sure that we extend our hand in friendship and support to these young men and these young women; if we truly believe in the power of redemption, which I do, as a person of faith I really do. None of us are flawless," Lightfoot said. "We must live those values and extend our hands to these young men and young women who have fallen by the wayside and are just looking for a hand and friendship to bring them back and bring them home; and that's really, truly, what this is all about."
The mayor went on to say, "as the sister of a man who spent more than a decade of his life incarcerated, I have seen firsthand the incredible barriers and challenges faced by people seeking to rebuild and reshape their lives as they exit the criminal justice system.
"When I became Mayor, I knew that I owed it to my brother, and the millions of people facing those same challenges that he faced, to ensure that Chicago became a welcoming city for people who have paid their debt to society and are seeking to build productive and meaningful lives post-incarceration.”
This order builds upon the investments made for returning residents in Mayor Lightfoot’s recently passed Chicago Recovery Plan, which invests $10 million in a three-year reentry workforce program for training and wrap-around supports for formerly incarcerated residents to attain employment and stabilization; and $3 million in expanded community legal services like expungement and record sealing.
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