When former Chicago street-gang member Steven Evans was released from Stateville in 1980 after serving a 7-year sentence for armed robbery, he knew he wanted to work with youths to keep them from following in his footsteps.
For the next 11 years, Evans trod a straight path, working with church and community groups in the Joliet area as a counselor, recounting grim tales of gang life and prison to impressionable youngsters.
Earlier this year, the Warren Sharpe Community Center on Joliet Street, which primarily serves black youths on the city`s east side, hired Evans as a youth counselor. There he is seen as a father figure, to the point where he has been called ”Shababa,” the Swahili word for father of fathers.
The center, which opened last May has played an active role in the community and this summer, artist Kathleen Scarboro and members of the center have been working to complete a mural on the side of the building depicting life in the community.
And because the center needed to expand its programs, the Joliet City Council-backed by low-interest loans from six local financial institutions-awarded the center a $150,000 grant.
That money will be used to rehabilitate a two-story brick building to serve as an educational center for preschool through junior high school kids. In addition, the council on Tuesday night approved another $150,000 grant, this one for renovation at the Spanish Center on Eastern Street, another community center that serves Hispanics, whites and blacks.
The centers will get the money from local banks, which will be paid back by the city over a five-year period with money from the federal Community Development Block Grant program.
This is the first time in 13 years that local banking institutions have collectively been involved in community rehab work, said Robert Frazier, Joliet`s budget director.
The agreement with the financial institutions was finalized only a week ago.
Meanwhile, Evans was working with youths at the Sharpe Center, and last week he helped prevent any retaliation for an apparent gang-related fatal shooting of a teenager with a long police record. Many youths at the center knew the boy and turned to Evans for solace.
”It was another senseless death, the whole thing was senseless,” Evans told the youths.
