This newsletter was sent to our Saint Leonard’s community email subscribers on September 30, 2026. If you would like to receive future news from Saint Leonard’s, join us and subscribe to receive email updates.
When Walter Burnett Jr. was elected alderman in 1995, it marked a day that somebody who truly embraced the re-entry community joined the ranks of the City Council.
The former neighborhood alderman and Vice Mayor of the City of Chicago has burnished a legacy of real leadership. He advanced affordable and mixed-income housing in both policy and planning.
On October 15, we will honor Burnett with the Champions Award at the Heart of Saint Leonard’s: A Night of Fellowship.
We like to talk about the value of lived experience at Saint Leonard’s. It’s a differentiator that can be measured by the fact that the City of Chicago now has an Office of Reentry that promotes the re-entry process. Burnett’s role in the creation of this office matters. It matters that re-entry work has become the accepted norm instead of the questioned outlier. It matters that the city supports the services that returning residents need.
During a visit to our campus in 2024, we spoke with Burnett about our program graduations that can inspire others to take classes at the Michael Barlow Center.
“It’s beneficial to the community if we invest in these people because … it helps the community to be more prosperous. But it also helps to have more role models in our neighborhood,” Burnett said.
“So when you see the guy who used to be out there, the lady who used to be out there, doing what they do – whatever it was – when you see them taking a turn and going in the right direction and doing something positive, it inspires everyone else to know that they can change, for one, but also that you can do something different.”
We agree. And we exist in a community that has become more prosperous because of Burnett’s tireless efforts to improve the community in a way that balances mixed incomes and developments. And Burnett helped bring two Democratic National Conventions to our neighbor at the United Center, putting our city on the national stage in key moments of our nation’s history.
Thank you, Walter Burnett, for being our elected champion. We appreciate your investment in the West Side. And we look forward to honor your vision and mission accomplished.
Please join us to help celebrate Walter Burnett Jr. as our 2026 Champions Award honoree.
