CHICAGO (CBS) — In life, making the wrong decision can often lead you to the wrong places, but a Chicago non-profit believes everyone deserves another chance, and two people are living proof that Cleanslate changes lives.

“I went to prison for fraud for a long time. I was a real estate broke. I closed my office in I believe it was about ’92, ’93, and I started doing fraud,” said Sam Lovett, senior manager of business operations for Cleanslate.

After two years in state prison, Lovett went to federal prison.

“When the federal judge sentenced me to the five years, he put something on my mind,” he said. “And I really thought about it. I’m going to end up dying in prison if I come back, so I made a determination that I was going to change.”

Lovett found that change when he was released in 2017 at the age of 57. That change was Cleanslate.

“Cleanslate, it means a new start to me, a new start, a clean slate, because a lot of individuals coming home don’t believe they will get a second chance,” he said.

Cleanslate is a non-profit that provides training and salaried transitional jobs. Participants earn an income while developing skills they need for permanent employment.

“We work with over almost 100 or more employment partners, where we help get them to a permanent job. We work directly with employment partners like CTA Second Chance, ADM, Lurie Children’s Hospital,” Lovett said. “You start in the workforce program, where you develop the competencies of time management, communications, and things of that nature.”

In the end, they earn a full-time job, but the path can be challenging. 

“It wasn’t easy. I had to humble myself out in the street with a broom and dustpan, and with a shiny vest,” Lovett said.

Cleanslate participant Joshua Phillips now wears the same kind of vest.

“I went to prison. First, I was outside. I was selling drugs, doing whatever I was doing, and went to prison, ended up going to jail for a gun case,” he said.

In 2023, after nearly two decades in prison, Phillips knew he couldn’t go back to the same hustle or lifestyle in Englewood.

“When I got out of jail, I ended up running into Cleanslate and Cleanslate made my life change. They gave me a job, they provided housing,” he said.

For the first time, he was creating a new life, a different life, but not just for himself.

“I have to have something for my family.  You know, I got kids, so I need an endgame. You know, you gotta have an endgame. There was no endgame at first, but Cleanslate provided that,” he said.

It also provided him with a broom to sweep two days a week, and a notebook to attend class.

Now he’s cleaning homes provided to Cleanslate by the Cook County Land Bank Authority, which focuses on remodeling vacant, abandoned, and tax delinquent properties in disinvested neighborhoods.

“We get those properties, and we make them available for developers, non-profits, and community members to revitalize them and make them back into productive use,” Cook County Land Bank Authority executive director Jessica Caffrey said.

Throughout the 10-year partnership, Cleanslate has become one of the Land Bank’s biggest vendors, with over 400 properties that have provided more than 250 jobs.

“Together we’re reducing recidivism, we’re allowing traditional jobseekers to get jobs, we’re giving people a second chance,” Caffrey said.

Lovett worked his way up within Cleanslate, and now seven years later he’s the senior business manager of operations.

“I elected to stay instead of moving forward, because I thought, well I knew that I could help other people, and that was my goal, so I stayed at Cleanslate,” he said.

He’s helped many people, but not all of them make it. Phillips has, and the two men have become good friends.

“I’m proud of him, I’m proud of him. He stuck with the program,” Lovett said.

“My wife tells me, my kids tell me, my mother tells me. So yes, I’m very proud of myself,” Phillips said.

Both Lovett and Phillips know they’re now in the right place.

“When you get sick and tired of doing the same thing every day, you’re gonna change, and that’s what happened,” Phillips said.

“Never give up hope,” Lovett said. “There was a second chance for me, and at 57. So there is a second chance for everyone.”

Cleanslate and its parent organization, Cara Collective, have helped more than 15,000 people find jobs and a new path. For more information, visit the Cleanslate website.

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