Southern Illinois News

At a recent House Public Safety and Violence Prevention Task Force hearing, Rep. Patrick Windhorst (R-Harrisburg) asked Dr. Patricia Booker Easley of the NAACP Westside Collaborative Project about Restore, Reinvest, and Renew (R3) Program grantees. 

According to its website, R3 is a state program whose grants fund programs in Illinois communities that have been harmed by violence, excessive incarceration, and economic disinvestment.

"When we look back on this grant, how will we judge whether or not you’ve been successful and the grant itself has been successful in achieving its goals?" Windhorst asked.

"Given that this is a new grant and we’re serving a population in very different ways, when we talk about measuring, I think we need to be broad and flexible on that," Booker Easley said. "We will provide some instances on that for pre-testing, post-testing, pre-assessments, post-assessments, those sorts of things, so we can have some quantifiable numbers for you. But, on the other hand, we also have to look at changing minds of this particular population."

Easley discussed the different ways the group will give information to the state.

"So, we will provide information in two ways for you and for the community, the state in general," Easley said. "We have to do it within quantifiable means as well as qualitative means. We’ll have testimonies from those who have gone through the program, we can contact some of those people and find out what they’ve done with what they’ve learned. I am really excited to find out." 

Easley also talked about the mindset of the community.

"If we can change the mindset of our clients, neighbors and friends, they can transfer that new knowledge within their families and their blocks and communities" Easley said. 

A total of eight West Side nonprofits and civil rights organizations joined together to form the Westside Collaborative Project last year. The target beneficiaries are young people between the ages of 14 and 24, according to a report from the Austin Weekly News.

Mental health, career development and violence prevention support services will be provided, according to a report from the Austin Weekly News. 

The Westside Collaborative Project received $1.8 million as a part of R3 during the fall.