The Partner | February 2022
Community Spotlight – Yvette Ewing
We are excited to continue the celebration of our outstanding community partners and allies this month with our Community Spotlight segment. These individuals and organizations are doing incredible work for our communities in unique and necessary ways. February’s Community Spotlight shines brightly on Yvette Ewing and her foundations, The Community Works & The Fuller Center for Housing Hero Project Lake County.
Yvette Ewing is an Entrepreneur & Executive Director of (2) National Non-Profits -The Fuller Center for Housing Hero Project Lake County (founders of Habitat for Humanity) & The Community Works, a 22 city Workforce Development Program (founded by Cincinnati Works) that helps people come out of poverty.
Yvette is a 34-year community development leader specializing in collaborative and innovative community programs for high-risk populations. She has designed or co-designed several national model programs for various international organizations. She is a U.S. Army Veteran & certified life coach- she has trained and presented at faith-based, educational, corporate, local, and national conferences, inspiring people with her personal story of trials and victory. She is an expert at writing and obtaining resources for communities. To date, she has obtained over $10 million in grant funds, recruited and trained thousands of volunteers for various organizations. Ms. Ewing affectionately refers to her work as “The Hero Project”: Creating strategic networks, (business, non-profits, government, civic) helping them maximize their “Superpowers” to eradicate poverty and create sustainable communities.
The ultimate dream for the Hero Project is as follows:
“The Community Works will be known as a “Transformation Center” Helping youth and adults find their passion, purpose and “Superpower” We will have an army of Life/Career Coaches who will share their gifts and talents to help build a nation of leaders who love themselves, their communities and their neighbors, regardless of race, creed, sexual orientation, or economic status.
Our training focus: Hospitality/Culinary, Customer Service, Technology, Craft Trades (carpentry, electrical, plumbing, automotive) We will help clients increase literacy skills, gain work ethic, conquer personal barriers, and position them to qualify for local education programs, or to create career paths to work for themselves or others.”
Of the many hats she wears, Yvette’s self-proclaimed, greatest role is being a wife to Ronnel Ewing, her best friend and business partner; mother of four children (Chris, Briana, Brandon, David), and 4 grandchildren (Isaiah, Nehemiah, Josiah, & Cameron). She loves to serve the community and has served in ministry for over 16 years with youth & young adults at her church in Waukegan. For more information about Yvette Ewing, The Community Works, or The Fuller Center for Housing Hero Project Lake County please visit www.thecommunityworks.org & www.fullercenterlakecounty.org
Join the Discussion
Let your voice be heard! Our next Criminal Justice Community Council meeting is coming up on March 16th at 6:00PM CST. Register here to join the discussion!
State’s Attorney and A Safe Place Partner to Form New Task Force
The Crisis Outreach and Support Team will be expanding their taskforce starting at the end of the month. This new expansion of COaST will feature a social worker, clinician, or peer specialist who will be partnered with a sheriff’s deputy or police officer from a partner agency. The Sheriff’s Office will have a full-time deputy and mental health worker assigned as one team. The other team will be a rotation of officers from the member agencies, and those officers will be partnered with a separate mental health worker.
All of the police officers, deputies, and mental health workers participating in this program will go through advanced training in mid-January. The initiative will be fully operational on January 31, 2022. The success and operational procedures of this pilot program will be regularly evaluated. It is the hope of the partner agencies that the program will be a success and can be expanded in 2023.
Sheriff Idleburg Partners with Illinois Sheriffs’ Association to Award Student Scholarship
Sheriff John D. Idleburg is proud to partner with the Illinois Sheriffs’ Association to award a $1,000 school scholarship to a Lake County resident, for an institution of higher learning. The scholarship is to be applied to tuition, books and fees only. The student must be enrolled full-time at a certified institution of higher learning within the State of Illinois, full-time online learning is acceptable.
There will be no restriction on any applicant by reason of race, age, creed, color, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, or other protected classes. The only limitations are as follows:
Applicants must be permanent Illinois residents and reside in the county in which they are applying
Scholarships must be utilized at institutions of higher learning within the State of Illinois
Students must be enrolled as a full-time student during the 2022-2023 school year (excluding summer session)
Sheriff John D. Idleburg said, “I enjoy every opportunity to give back to the community. I look forward to being able to award a Lake County student $1,000.00, which can be used to offset some of the expenses of schooling.”
Applications are available at the Lake County Sheriff’s Office or can be downloaded at the following link: https://go.usa.gov/xtk6b
Students must complete the application; answer the essay question and return all documentation to the Sheriff’s Office in their permanent county of residence by March 15, 2022 (must be postmarked by this date). A directory of Sheriff’s offices are available on our website https://www.ilsheriff.org/sheriffs-directory/ For more information, please contact your local Sheriff’s office, Illinois Sheriffs’ Association, high school advising center or college financial aid office.
Meet the Team - Kania Robinson
Hello, dearest reader! My name is Kania Robinson. I am the Digital Media Specialist with Lake County Sheriff’s Office and Criminal Justice Community Council. My role encompasses all things creative and social media including designing, editing, and knitting together portions of this monthly newsletter, The Partner. I have been asked to include an article this month highlighting my experience in this role from my unique vantage point. The opportunity to do so is thrilling for many reasons, chiefly because I am not only an employee of this office but also a member of the community I serve. It is an honor to be able to share tables and spaces with civic leaders, policymakers, and agents of change where my opinion is valued and desired. Seeing my influence have an impact in my community is exhilarating! The infinite opportunities for positive change that are possible drive me to go further and do more. I am certainly still learning and growing in this office, but I’m committed to using creativity as a vehicle forward!
You can help inform and engage the community about this work by forwarding this newsletter to three friends and encouraging them to sign up here.
The Safety and Justice Challenge strategies at Lake County, IL are proudly led and supported by:
Lake County Sheriff's Office
Lake County State's Attorney Office
19th Judicial Circuit Court
Lake County Public Defender's Office
Nicasa Behavioral Health Services
This project was created with support from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation as part of the Safety and Justice Challenge, which seeks to reduce over-incarceration by changing the way America thinks about and uses jails.