Poet Kendria Harris stood before a crowd of parolees and their families and friends on Wednesday with a positive message.
“Grab life by the handles and know you can handle it,” Harris said.
Ten participants in the Chicago Heights Reentry Service Center graduated from the program, which is aimed at helping formerly incarcerated men and women reintegrate into society and avoid the cycle of recidivism.
Local community corrections leaders, graduates and their families were in attendance during the graduation ceremony, surrounded by food and family members. The Chicago Heights Reentry Service Center has more than 70 regular participants who report daily for intensive treatment and training designed to reduce recidivism.
The ceremony took place at the Skyline Restaurant, 1016 Dixie Highway, and honored thosethe men and women who successfully completed the program, administered by GEO Reentry Services. There are 70 people in the program. To graduate, candidates must be well on their way to getting a job, among other things.
The program started in Chicago Heights in 2005, but GEO operates similar programs nationwide that include housing and treatment, training and day reporting programs, according to the company’s website.
“These are adult offenders who were in state prison and are now on parole,” Emanuel Barr, the outreach and operational manager at the Chicago Heights center, said. “Our reentry services offer a productive way for parolees to have the ability to have multiple resources under one roof.”
Some of the criteria that must be met to graduate include taking part in a transition ceremony, be drug- and alcohol-free for 90 days and participate in at least 90 percent of the required group meetings. Graduates also must be employed or going to school
“By the time they graduate, they must at least be in pursuit of a job,” Barr said. “We help them with resume building, give them job leads and direct them to a community college if necessary. We are pretty much a one-stop shop for parolees. And this program has been successful around the country.”
Graduate James Rodriguez said he benefited from the program.
“They helped me a lot, and they really do care about us,” he said. “It’s important to stay positive and to never give up.”
Rodriguez was one of the proud graduates who already had re-entered the workforce before completing the program.
There is a full-time education coordinator and a full-time program coordinator to work directly with paroleesy to build the necessary job skills, Barr said.
“We do not want to see anyone from the program back on the streets,” he said.
Program participants do not want that either, graduate James Renzetti said.
“When we come back into society, there’s someone else to lean on and you learn you are not alone,” he said.
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