Empowering Returning Citizens: Joseph Green

Joseph Green is a Westsider committed to making a difference for his community – and empowering those who need to rebuild themselves, their lives and their families after spending time in the prison system. 

Joseph knows the community well, having lived in Austin for nearly two decades after growing up in North Lawndale and Garfield Park. He spends his days serving people he says “have made bad mistakes, paid the price” and have an opportunity ahead of them. 

Across the U.S., this work is critical. About 97 percent of incarcerated individuals will be released and return to their communities, according to a University of Illinois Chicago report. In 2020, six Westside communities were the home or the reentry point for 35 percent of the state’s returning citizens, according to the report. 

Joseph is the Director of Workforce Development at the nonprofit Westside Health Authority. He started as a reentry coordinator, talking to dozens of incarcerated people and returning citizens. Their stories vary - some made bad choices while searching for validation, others felt they had no other choice. 

Joseph’s job is to offer them resources and opportunities – plans and choices for their return to their communities to access employment, income and reunification, he said. 

His mantra is one of compassion and accountability – needed to build rapport and connect with people impacted by the justice system, who are oftentimes disconnected from their families and their communities. 

“I expect you to do the right thing. I expect you to show up when I call upon you. I expect you to be the very best version of yourself,” he said. “I expect you to get your GED. I expect you to go get this job and thrive at this job. And so whether those expectations were met or not by the people that I serve, I put that expectation on them.” 

Holding people accountable goes into “building people up,” he said. Helping people believe in themselves and want better is key for returning citizens who face incredible challenges finding employment, housing and health. Those who were formerly incarcerated are almost 10 times more likely to be homeless, according to a University of Chicago report. 

Through Westside Health Authority’s Community Reentry programs, Joseph visits prisons and talks to incarcerated individuals, sharing stories and emphasizing steps they can take to prepare for their return to their community: completing their education, preparing a resume, getting ready for a job interview and figuring out a life plan. 

Westside Health Authority’s programs help justice-involved individuals find job opportunities, partnering with organizations, companies and agencies that hire people; leading a job readiness program and offering a transitional employment program where people can build skills needed to apply for a permanent job opportunity. 

For more than six years, Joseph has helped people identify skills and work experience, create a resume and identify job opportunities they want to pursue. To help reduce recidivism, he urges returning citizens to put some real thought into the next steps in their life, to think specifically about what they want to do - not just “do anything” and potentially fall into old habits.

“Nobody ever asks someone coming home ‘What do you want to do?’ ‘What are you interested in?’ I found myself asking that question,” he said. 

His journey at Westside Health Authority reflects his desire to do work that impacted his community, not just a job to make money, he said. 

“It is purpose-driven. It is empowering. It is [about] trying to motivate someone to see and know the greatness that maybe nobody else sees,” he said. 

Before joining the nonprofit, Joseph worked in the technology field. But he was always interested in doing meaningful work for his community. At Westside Health Authority, he found an opportunity to do that while working for a Black-led organization that understands community needs. 

Since joining, he has grown a network of partners involved in community reentry and expanded outreach efforts, serving dozens of returning citizens. 

As part of his job, he maintains a network of organizations in the South and West Sides of the city supported by the Illinois Department of Corrections. The Community Support Advisory Council, which Westside Health Authority leads on the Westside, provides wraparound services for returning citizens including helping them obtain IDS, documents, food assistance and other services. 

Community is at the center of his work, but transformation happens at an individual level, too, he said. 

As he helps people, he shares the values and examples set by his grandmother, mother, father and stepfather and his faith, he said. 

Now, as the Director of Workforce Development, he is working to expand job opportunities for Westsiders, providing pathways into different industries and roles so people can do meaningful work. He is working to be one of the leaders in Austin for workforce development by continuing to implement workforce programs out of the Westside Health Authority’s upcoming Aspire Center, creating more partnerships with employers who hire people with a background, offering more comprehensive wraparound services for job-seekers or those in workforce readiness programs and investing in entrepreneurship and business ownership programs. 

“I just want to see more in our community, that dollar not just going outside of the community, but that dollar staying in the community,” he said. 

In the future, he sees himself leading more transformative programs in his community as better employment opportunities are the foundation for growth, he said. 

“I’m just helping people see who they could be,” he said. “I can see greatness in all people. I think that's one of the blessings I get from up above, but if that person doesn't see it, it'll never come into existence.”