Willette Benford: 2024 Distinguished Alumni

“It was a learning experience for me to solidify who I was to people. I was able to let people know that I would not be treated inhumanely simply because I had been formerly incarcerated,” she said. “Because of that, I became a leader in Grace House immediately with women and with staff. And I was positive to encourage women to be the best you can be. Because no matter where you been or how you started, you can finish well.”

Benford knows about finishing well. She has ascended to be one of the leading advocates and changemakers for returning residents in the City of Chicago and State of Illinois.

And she’s definitely not done.

On October 24, we will honor Benford with the Saint Leonard’s Ministries first-ever Distinguished Alumni Award at our 70^th anniversary celebration.

While living at Grace House, Benford volunteered in Ald. Walter Burnett’s office. She soon became a full-time staff member handling 27^th Ward constituent services and citywide matters related to pedestrian and traffic safety.

She concluded her time at Grace House in 2020, and the following year, she started work as an organizer for Live Free Illinois. In 2022, then-Mayor Lori Lightfoot appointed Benford as the city’s first-ever Director of Re-Entry – a position dedicated to serving the needs of people returning from incarceration.

In 2023, Benford became a Senior Advisor to Illinois First Lady MK Pritzker. She coordinates and leads initiatives to support women during incarceration with humane and dignified conditions, and she creates post-incarceration opportunities of housing, economic mobility and family reunification.

She met the First Lady while living at Grace House.

“I love Grace House, and I am always an advocate and staunch ally because Grace House offers something to women when they come back from incarceration that not one other house across the state – and I would go as far as say the nation – does. And that is the opportunity to live in an environment where you are supported, where you are encouraged, and where you are not stripped of everything as you are rebuilding your life.”

“Grace House does not charge you a dime, and that is phenomenal for a woman coming back after incarceration and rebuilding her life. To offer that and all of the support services that Grace House offers, it is a way to connect with a network of individuals, connect with a family-like environment and also connect to every resource you need to succeed – whether that be career pathway, educational opportunity, therapy, whatever it is you need. Grace House offers a suite of services that will support you in your return to society.”

Benford’s impact can be felt by returning residents across Chicago and the state.

While working in the Lightfoot administration, she opened the city’s fifth re-entry support center to help guide people to housing, healthcare and employment.

“Even if it was just making sure that if someone needed someone to talk to, they had what they needed,” she said.

She also worked to modify the city’s hiring ordinance to reduce barriers for people seeking city government employment.

“One misconception is that if someone has been incarcerated or convicted, they are a bad person. Or they are lazy, and they don’t want to work. Some of those misconceptions are really hurting our economy and hurting individuals that are coming back – and are really ready to start their lives over,” she said.

“You have people with convictions and people who have been incarcerated who are qualified for jobs. If we believe that our carceral system works and if it is punishment, there should be no punishments afterward. At the end of the day, when people come home, they’re going to live in the community and their kids will go to school. And how – as a society or country – do we want people to return? Unemployed and struggling?”

In her current role, Benford supported passage of the new state law that allows people to receive a state ID before they leave any carceral setting in Illinois.

“No matter where you started, no matter how you started, you can always come back strong and win,” she said. “I think about how so many individuals were hopeless. And the way I live, what I do gives individuals hope. There are opportunities, and as long as you are your authentic self, doors will open for you that no man can shut.”

This year, Saint Leonard’s Ministries is celebrating 30 years of Grace House and everybody who has received or provided services at 1801 W. Adams St. We welcome the example Benford sets for the people who live and take classes on our campus.

“The best part of my job is to get up every day knowing that I can do something to benefit women who are still incarcerated and women who are coming home from incarceration, to have the best and be the best that they can be,” she said.

“I am that same woman – whoever she is. I don’t care if she was incarcerated for six minutes, six days, six months, six years or 60 years. I know her experience, her fears and what she will experience when she gets home. And if I can create any opportunity for her, then we are not just a second-chance city or a second-chance nation. We are a fair-chance nation.”

“When you give someone a fair chance, I am what it looks like.”