(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Cobe Williams says he was first inspired to turn his life around while watching the news in prison.
"I'm seeing mothers can't sit on the front porch. Grandmas can't, little kids getting killed, all type of stuff going on. And I was looking at like, man, I was part of the problem in my community. I had took so much out to community. I had did so much wrong in the community. So I wanted to come home and make a change," Williams says..
Williams says he was around 15 or 16 when he started selling drugs. After spending about 12 years of his life, on and off, in prison, he joined violence prevention organization CeaseFire Illinois as a violence interrupter and outreach worker.
"My job every day was to put out fire, to mediate conflicts, to stop people from shooting and killing each other and just building relationships in the community."
Now 20 years later, Williams is the leader of several violence prevention efforts in Chicago, including One City Basketball League, which he founded with former Bulls player Joakim Noah. The program brings together hundreds of young men at risk of violence.
"One City is just a tool and a tool kit that's to get people to come together. But we offer more than that. We do financial literacy, conflict mediation, community engagement. We train them and all that to give some skills and tools."
He says his mindset is meeting young people where they're at without judging them.
"These young people, they be calling for help. They want to do the right thing, but so many people give up on them. So many people say, ‘Oh, you ain't going to be nothing.’ So I ain't going to be one of them people. Because, guess what? I was young like these guys, women too. You know, I'm saying I understand the struggle."
He says his goal is to show people that second chances are possible.
"I want people to understand that redemption is real. I want people to understand. I mean, I went to prison, I made some bad choices in my life, but look what I'm doing now."
Williams also recently wrote a book called "Interrupting Violence," to tell the story of his evolution from gang member to national community violence interrupter.
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