Karin Norington-Reaves Releases New Digital Video (Chicago, IL) — Today, Democratic candidate for Congress in Illinois’ 1st District Karin Norington-Reaves released a new digital video about the creation of the Chatham Education and Workforce Center which she created to honor the memory of Dr. Betty Howard, killed by gun violence on May 29 in 2014.

“It was one of the greatest honors of my lifetime to pull together the forces of Chicago’s philanthropic and business sectors to create the Chatham Education and Workforce Center from the ground up,” said Norington-Reaves. “I know that giving communities hope through economic opportunity reduces crime and gun violence–that’s the approach that I’m going to take with me to Congress.”

“Every step of the way Karin reached out,” said Kristal Long, Howard’s niece, of building the center. “Once you walk into the center the first thing you see is a plaque that bears my aunt’s picture, and it tells her story, and it tells how that workforce development came into conception. We were honored that someone would honor our aunt’s legacy in the way that Karin did.”

“Because of Dr. Howard’s untimely death, Karin became really passionate about making sure we could honor her name and in the spirit of her values create this workforce center in Chatham,” said Greg Martinez of the Chicago Cook Workforce Partnership. “She started with an idea, she got funding for it, and now there’s an actual brick and mortar place sitting there, the Chatham Education and Workforce Center.”

Dr. Howard was a beloved special education teacher at Gwendolyn Brooks College Preparatory Academy who had just stopped by a real estate office along a busy stretch of East 79th Street in Chatham to drop off some paperwork, when gunfire erupted outside and bullets tore through the wall, striking and killing Howard.

Congressman Bobby Rush convened many city, state and local leaders, with a call to bring forward strategies to combat the violence. The Greater Chatham Initiative and several investments grew from his meeting. Norington-Reaves stood up, conceptualized and subsequently executed the creation of the 11,000-square-foot Center which provides thousands a place to get free help as they seek new, quality jobs or look to change careers. The Center opened in January 2021. The free programming offered there includes training in skilled trades, digital literacy, and manufacturing, as well as career services such as resume preparation, skills assessment, and job placement. Services are explicitly offered to individuals with disabilities, older workers, ex-offenders, people experiencing homelessness, and veterans.

Karin Norington-Reaves Releases New Digital Video

Related Articles

Responses