Afternoon Edition: From gang leader to college grad

Good afternoon, Chicago. ✶

Earlier this month, Billy “Bo” Deal graduated from Northeastern Illinois University with a degree in urban community studies.

Deal had already turned his life around after two prison stints, beginning a career in anti-violence outreach. Now, with a degree from NEIU, he’s ready to take the next step.

Below, we have more on Deal’s journey.

Plus — the community news you need to know this afternoon.

⏱️: A 7-minute read

— Katelyn Haas, audience engagement specialist (@khaas96)

TODAY’S TOP STORY

Bo Deal learned all he could from life in the streets. Then he got a college degree.

Reporting by Andy Grimm

The path to graduation: When he started out as an anti-violence outreach worker, the most important items on Billy “Bo” Deal’s resume were his former position as a high-level gang member and his two trips to prison. As a bonus, he was also a rap battle champion who appeared on tracks with the likes of G Herbo and the late FBG Duck. But earlier this month, Deal added another accomplishment to his resume: a bachelor’s degree from Northeastern Illinois University.

Breaking the ‘glass ceiling’: When Deal, 49, started his courses four years ago, he realized a college degree was crucial to building a curriculum vitae that would allow him to lead the kinds of outreach programs that have employed him for more than a decade. “Without that degree, you hit that glass ceiling,” Deal said. “I want to be at the table where people are making decisions about what is needed in our communities.”

Part of a larger program: Metropolitan Peace Initiatives, the Chicago-based nonprofit organization where Deal works as senior manager of field services, has been formalizing training for outreach workers and steering its workers into degree programs since its founding in 2017. Deal is the first to complete a degree with MPI’s help.

“As the outreach workers were promoted into leadership roles and we were seeing what they are capable of, we realized we had something very special in our capacity-building through our program,” said Vanessa Perry DeReef, chief training officer for MPI. “Unless they want to retire as 65-year-old outreach workers, and I’m sure some do, they will have to enhance their skills.”

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WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON?

Pat Nabong / Sun-Times file

• 9 top employees leave chief county judge’s office: A year into Chief Cook County Judge Timothy Evans’ still-secret investigation, the Sun-Times has found that nine of his highest-paid employees who left the office match loan recipients in the fraud-ridden Paycheck Protection Program.
  
• Richard Roeper’s 10 best movies of 2023: Looking back on the year in movies, hardly a week went by without at least one good-to-great film. But none could top “Oppenheimer,” the Sun-Times film critic’s No. 1 movie of 2023. Michael Jordan sneaker story ”Air,” Leonard Bernstein biopic “Maestro,” and Greta Gerwig’s gloriously pink “Barbie” also make Roeper’s list of favorites.
  
• Illinois’ license plate ‘Naughty List’: Over 300 vanity and personalized license plates were rejected this year by the Illinois Security of State for being “too obscene or defamatory.” The “Naughty List” included plate requests for EATBUTT, WOOPASS, POOPSY, and IOWASUX, among others.
  
• Police oversight agency recommends firing of 4 Chicago cops: Over the objections of a former Chicago top cop, the city’s police board could decide on a long-hidden recommendation to fire four veteran officers accused of misconduct more than 17 years ago in a unit led by corrupt former Sgt. Ronald Watts.
  
• Ride-hailing app drivers demand city ordinance: More than 35 drivers using ride-hailing apps gathered outside Uber’s support center for drivers in West Town to call on the City Council to pass a proposed ordinance aimed at improving their working conditions, pay and safety. If passed, the measure would raise drivers’ wages, improve their safety and create a transparent system to handle driver deactivations.

WEEKEND PLANS 🎉

Herencia Music, 2023.

🎥 Be Kind, Rewind
Friday-Dec. 31
📍Gene Siskel Film Center, 164 N. State
Close out the year with this series highlighting some of 2023’s best films, including “Barbie,” “Fallen Leaves,” “All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt” and more.
Admission: $13

🎺 A Very Merry Christmas Concert
Friday, 7 p.m.; Saturday, 2, 5 and 8 p.m.
📍Old Town School of Folk Music, 4544 N. Lincoln
Join Latin Grammy-nominated group Mariachi Herencia de Mexico for a celebration of Mexican and American holiday favorites.
Admission: $40

🎄 Holiday Party
Saturday, 6-10 p.m.
📍Coffee, Hip-Hop & Mental Health, 1051 W. Belmont
Put on your best clothes and step out for a night of laughter and positive energy at this event centered on good music and mindfulness.
Admission: $50-$85

❄️ Snow Globe Pop-up at the Field Museum
Saturday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
📍The Field Museum, 1400 S Lake Shore Drive
Warm up with a hot chocolate bar in the museum’s Bistro or browse through its unique collection of holiday ornaments and novelty items.
Admission: Free with museum admission

🌅 33rd Annual Winter Solstice Sunrise Concert Series
Saturday, 6-7:30 a.m.
📍Links Hall, 3111 N. Western Avenue
Join two master percussionists as they greet the end of the year’s longest night with a sunrise show in a room lit only by candles.
Admission: $35

BRIGHT ONE ✨

Provided

Once studying to become a forensic pathologist, Everett Reynolds pivoted hard — into the art world

Everett Reynolds aspired to be a forensic pathologist — a doctor who studies the causes of death. While in college, he was a chemistry major headed in that direction.

But he’s since veered about as far from that path as you can: He’s become an artist creating big, colorful and dynamic murals in Chicago and the suburbs.

Reynolds, who will be 29 in January, can appreciate the irony of such a dramatic life shift.

“For sure, and it started from me creating life and becoming a dad and all of that, so it’s really cool,” he says.

Born in Belize in Central America, he moved to the Chicago area at 12 and was raised in Lake County, including Waukegan and Zion. Art was really a late-in-life endeavor, he says.

“I was a pre-med student, and art wasn’t necessarily my main goal. I’m not going to lie,” Reynolds says.

But then, “a lot of things” started happening in 2015, including his partner becoming pregnant.

“I was becoming a dad. I was still in school. I had to figure out what I really wanted to do.”

Now living on Chicago’s North Side, Reynolds says, “I feel everyone has that point; it’s like a whirlwind. And from there, you really pick a destination and life really changes.”

As things felt a little “out of control,” he took up painting. Art is no longer simply an outlet for Reynolds, who says it’s about “me communicating” and “creating relationships” and “a legacy for me and my family.”

“The reason I still do it is I still have that drive; it’s just not going away. I love learning. There’s always a challenge you have to figure out.”

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YOUR DAILY QUESTION ☕️

What was the best thing to happen to you in 2023?

Email us (please include your first and last name and where you live). To see the answers to this question, check our Morning Edition newsletter. Not subscribed to Morning Edition? Sign up here so you won’t miss a thing!

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Editor: Satchel Price
Written by: Katelyn Haas
Copy editor: Chris Woldt