Women Initiating New Directions (WIND)

Mission

Inspiring women with a history of incarceration or at risk of incarceration to design a thriving life journey using newly learned tools and strategies for success.

Vision

When women impacted by the justice system gain strategies and tools to lead productive lives, they can make better choices because they will have more choices. Every year, thousands of women return to incarceration because they don’t have a way to address the root causes that sent them there in the first place: trauma and low self-esteem that led to substance abuse or the lack of education that prevents them from earning a living wage. The reasons are complicated.

WIND offers programs and services to women in Chicagoland who have been or are currently impacted by the criminal justice system. These women reside in transition homes in the greater Chicago area, are held in Cook County Jail, or live in at-risk communities. They seek job skills, life skills and emotional and financial stability.

Our programs were created by a team with a wide variety of skill sets: design innovation; university teaching; homeless agency management; adult education; and marketing, finance and development experience. This breadth enabled us to create a totally unique curriculum.

Program content balances practical topics such as interviewing skills, job training and money management with creative problem-solving from the field of design and self-empowerment based on expressive writing. Workshop participants use these new skills to prepare for successful independent living and to avoid recidivism.