Deshawn Nelson loads a truck at a furniture warehouse in Niles on Dec. 7, 2021. Nelson, who had legal troubles as a teenager, got help from Lawndale Christian Legal Center, which gave him a job after he was released from prison. He invested his earnings and started a moving business about 18 months ago. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune)
A Lawndale nonprofit and a national nonprofit are partnering to bring services and support to people released on bond.
The Bail Project, a national nonprofit that helps people pay for bail and connects them to resources, is investing $2.9 million in a two-year pilot project with the Lawndale Christian Legal Center to provide programs and support with the goal to keep people from reoffending while they await trial.
The partnership was announced as the state prepares to implement a new law in 2023 that will end cash bail in Illinois.
The partnership will link people coming out of jail on personal recognizance bonds to employment, housing, mental health, substance use, violence prevention, medical care and other needs. People will also get frequent reminders of their next court dates, and the Bail Bond program offers people rides to the courthouse, increasing the likelihood they will appear, Robin Steinberg, CEO of the Bail Project, said at a news conference Tuesday in Lawndale.
Steinberg said her nonprofit has worked with about 1,500 people in Chicago in the last two years.
“Our clients appear for 95% of their court appearances when they’re getting effective court reminders,” Steinberg said.
Owner Deshawn Nelson, left, discusses deliveries with Jovon Moore in Niles on Dec. 7, 2021. Nelson, who owns the moving company Nelson Movers, formerly sold heroin on the West Side of Chicago. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)
The new partnership will have space in the pre-bond area of the jail where workers will make an initial connection to people who might benefit from some of the programs the project is offering, said Matthew McFarland, project director for Community Release with Support.
The project will connect people to services such as those offered at New Life Centers, a “hyperlocal” nonprofit that started in Little Village that provides after-school programs and street outreach.
Nina Lopez, chief operating officer of New Life Centers, said the new program will give the centers access to intervene earlier in people’s lives.
The new program expects to start taking clients in April and its goal is to reach 6,000 people in two years, making 50% of them clients who use the program’s services regularly, McFarland said.
McFarland talked about how programs like the ones the partnership will provide helped him change his life after decades of drug addiction. He started using drugs when he was 9, he said. This week he celebrated six years of sobriety.
The partnership will also allow the legal center to expand services to all ages.
For Deshawn Nelson, 23, the Legal Center has been a lifeline as he worked to open his own business. Nelson spent most of his youth selling drugs on the West Side, he said. He spent time in jail, facing gun and drug possession charges since he was 15.
In 2017, Nelson was arrested again and spent a year in prison. When he was released, Lawndale Christian Executive Director Cliff Nellis gave him a job picking up trash in the neighborhood and he saved up and decided to start a moving business, Nelson Movers, 18 months ago.
“People do make mistakes but there’s ways around it,” Nelson said. “If they get the right help and the right direction they can always change. And I believe I’m a success story when it comes to going to jail and coming home and doing the right thing.”
scasanova@chicagotribune.com
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