A teenage mom at the age of 16, Tara hoped her mother would care for the baby so she could finish high school. But her mother, a single mom, needed to keep working to support the family, so Tara dropped out of school and became a full-time mom.
When Tara and her daughter moved in with Tara’s grandmother in the housing projects on Chicago’s South Side, Tara fell in with the wrong crowd. She turned to forgery which led to her first incarceration. Out of prison at 19, Tara found there were no employers willing to hire ex-offenders.
Frustrated and depressed, Tara turned to drugs. Soon she returned to crime, mainly to support her drug habit and landed in prison again. Upon her release, Tara faced a judge who offered her access to a drug treatment program. Post drug-treatment, she yet again faced a lack of support and no access to housing. And the cycle of crime and incarceration began again.
Following her final stint in prison in 2003, Tara entered a substance abuse program for ex-offenders as an alternative to incarceration.
She remained skeptical she would ever work again and was shocked to learn Haymarket Center in Chicago was working with a U.S. Navy Base in North Chicago that hired ex-offenders. Illinois State Police were screening candidates’ rap sheets to determine if they were employable. Some were rejected for certain felonies. Tara was cleared.
She worked on the base for seven years and her salary grew. Although the pay was better, she faced temporary layoffs when her criminal record showed up in background checks. For months at a time, she was unable to work or collect unemployment.
With a young son at home and a lengthy commute, she moved to Lake County. As she got to know people in her community, she learned of Waukegan Township and the free Legal Help Desk that aided people with past criminal convictions to get their records sealed or expunged. (That Legal Help Desk would eventually become Coalition Legal.)
Tara met with the Employment Specialist for Waukegan Township who explained how Tara could gain more stable employment. She would have to get fingerprinted in Chicago, take a drug test to prove her longtime sobriety, and get her record sealed. Within three months, Tara got her record sealed, thanks to the Township’s expert guidance. Finally, she was able to hold her head high and fill out job applications without having to reveal her past felony convictions.
Soon, she got hired by the Lake County Health Department as a Mental Health Counselor. She received excellent performance reviews and felt grateful for the benefits for herself and her family.
In 2021, she became a Patient Access Specialist for Northwestern Medicine. “Thank god I have a second chance at life,” she said.
