Nataiyah Hill of Round Lake made a choice two years ago resulting in a charge against her of misdemeanor battery. It cost her a job as a security guard, and made finding work in a different field hard as well.
Determined to do something about it, Hill sought assistance at the Legacy Reentry Foundation in Waukegan to remove the blot on her record and get some job counseling. She is now on a path to achieve both.
Hill was one of 22 people participating in an Expungement and Reinstatement Fair Thursday at the Legacy Reentry Foundation in Waukegan who were seeking expungement of a criminal record or reinstatement of their driver’s license.
George Moore, the founder and executive director of the foundation, said he started the organization more than 20 years ago to help formerly incarcerated individuals and anyone else needing a second chance to reintegrate into society.
Working in conjunction with Prairie State Legal Services, Moore said people seeking expungement or sealing of their criminal record, as well as reinstatement of their driver’s license, were able to meet with an attorney for a free evaluation of their situation.
“Some cases cannot be expunged or sealed,” Moore said. “A conviction is not a life sentence. Every one of us is a person. You have to stop judging people by what’s on paper, and start seeing them as a person.”
After meeting with one of the foundation’s caseworkers to collect the details of their situation, the participants met with a lawyer to learn if they were a candidate for expungement, record sealing or license reinstatement.
Though she learned she must wait a while longer to get her record of a misdemeanor battery charge in 2021 expunged, Hill remained upbeat. She completed her community service and anger management training, but she could not work in her profession.
“They took away my PERC (permanent employee registration) card,” Hill said, referring to the identification necessary for people in the security industry. “I couldn’t be a security guard anymore.”
Working with counselors at the Legacy Reentry Foundation, Hill said she learned about places where she is more likely to get hired, including a medical facility in Lake County, to ply the skills she already has.
“They will look at people with records,” Hill said. “I have housekeeping experience, and I can do it there.”
Laura Bezlaj of Waukegan was at the Waukegan Public Library Thursday morning when she saw a flyer posted about the fair. Seeking work as a driver for a company like Uber or Lyft, she decided to check it out.
“I walked over here to see if I could get help,” she said. “It’s so close. I wanted to know if my license was still valid. It is.”
Clarice Stingley of Waukegan said she made a choice she regretted in 2018 and the Legacy Reentry Foundation helped her recover from the impact of the decision. She came for job counseling, and landed a position with a distributor in Lake County.
“I was in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Stingley said. “They lost a (major) contract and people were laid off,” she added, referring to her former job of two years. “I came back here and got some very good leads.”
Moore, who spent 21/2 years in prison after an arrest at age 19 approximately 30 years ago, said he wanted to help people reestablish themselves. He wrote a book and began working with prisoners. He found he was making a difference.
Now with a large staff in the foundation’s facility in two older houses in downtown Waukegan, Moore said there is more than job counseling and expungement fairs to the organization’s effort. There is a clothes closet, where people can find needed and appropriate attire.
“When people come in needing a job, we talk to them,” he said. “If they need clothes for an interview or a warm coat, we bring them in here,” he added, referring to the clothes closet. “We want them to find a job with a future.”
