Health & Fitness
A Felony Record Should Not Be the End of the Road
Greater Faith Baptist Church is striving to help young men and women on parole by providing services and programs to ease their transition back into our communities.
Being the child of on an ex-offender, I can feel the pain and frustrations of those that paid their debt to society, only to reenter a society that is not so forgiving.
Now, let me preface that statement, by saying that I am not condoning the poor decisions that these individuals made nor saying that all crimes committed are deserving of my compassion.
It is very apparent that there are inequities in the justice system and we don't have to look far for those disparities. The Cook County jail is filled with young black and latino brothers and sisters for choices that will ruin any productive future they thought they would have. My mother's crime was possession of a small quantity of a controlled substance, but tell that to all the employers that said, well Ms. Mosby, you seem like a great person but our policy is our policy... In short Que lástima!
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Last spring was awarded a grant through a new program called the Governors Neighborhood Recovery Initiative (NRI) to provide Reentry Case Management services to young men and women released on Parole between the ages of 17-24. Greater Faith is one of several organizations offering similar services and programs in the South Suburban Cook County Area's. Our service area includes but is not limited to: Chicago Heights, Glenwood, South Chicago Heights, Ford Heights, Lynwood, Sauk Village, Steger and Park Forest.
We were also fortunate enough to be funded for another year. However, after June 30, the future of this program is uncertain due the politics in Springfield, but I’ll save that for another blog. It is very obvious that if our communities had more after school and summer programs for our children, that the inception of the NRI may have never become necessary.
Find out what's happening in Chicago Heightswith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Since, we can’t go and turn back the hands of time, we are faced with the reality that these young adults need this program to help them get their life on a positive track. Currently, our program only has men in it and that’s not by design. Yet, it is no surprise because boys are typically more prone to having a run-in with the police, yet girls also have been trending up.
Greater Faith looks forward to improving the Chicago Heights community and with your help, we will.
If you know someone that could from our services, please call (708) 248-5226 and ask to speak with Wendell Mosby.
