Jeanette Finds Her Second Chance
“Before I found Cara, I didn’t know what my future held for me. I had just finished serving 36 months of a 57-month federal prison sentence for an attempt to commit a bank robbery. During that time, I lost everything – my career, my family, my home…everything.
Watch Jeanette share her story in her own words.
“In prison, I was told that, once I got back on the outside, no one was going to want to hire me because of my background. That kind of thinking stuck with me. It really made me doubt myself, but I knew there had to be something bigger for me.
“My counselor first told me about Cara in January 2015. All I wanted was to find a job and I was willing to try anything. She thought it would be a good fit for me.
“I didn’t know what to expect at first. People sharing in the circle, the singing, the dancing…it was overwhelming. Each day was something different, but what I realized was all these lessons were breaking down the bitterness I had inside me from being incarcerated. So, I began to trust the process and embrace everything.
“It was all leading up to realizing my strengths and weaknesses, getting me to where I needed to be to successfully get back into society and the workforce.
“Not long after that, interviews started coming my way. I remember walking out of them feeling good. But then I couldn’t land a single job because of my background. It was like having a giant X on my back. It felt like the whole world was against me.
“After seven months of job searching, I was becoming angry and losing focus. That’s when I was presented with an opportunity to join the CTA’s Second Chance Program. I said ‘no.’ I thought cleaning buses was beneath me. I didn’t recognize the opportunity being presented to me at first – but the Cara team did. They kept pushing me and pushing me until finally I said ‘yes.’
“A week into the job, my parole officer visited me and spoke with my manager. The next day, he told me to keep up the good work and that there will be other opportunities for me at CTA. That lit my fire. That was my motivation.
“About a year later, I went full-time by taking a janitorial position. From there I just continued to climb the ladder. Currently, I serve as a Bus Maintenance Manager. I oversee mechanics, servicers, and apprentices of the Second Chance Program. I like to make sure that I share my story with the people I work with, that I was in that same position as they are, and that if I can do it, so can they.
“Today I am doing it all. I am going into my second year of home ownership. I have six grandchildren. I am a proud member of the Cara Alumni Association, and I share my journey with job seekers every chance I get.
“Twenty years ago, I didn’t have a care in the world. Today I do, and that’s a big accomplishment for me. The biggest challenge we face reentering society is recidivism. So when we have programs like Cara, it gives us an advantage because we have people willing to help us. I was saved by this program.”
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