If you see individuals in purple vests picking up litter and maintaining different areas of Ypsilanti, they are part of a program in partnership between Life After Incarceration: Transition & Reentry and the Ypsilanti Downtown Development Authority called Supportive Hands in Neighborhood Enhancement.
The program partnership empowers formerly incarcerated individuals to learn skills, get involved with their community and access vital resources. SHINE is a pilot program that started in November 2020.
Leroy Harris, a supervisor for the SHINE team, has been a part of the program since its inception.
"In the beginning, nobody knew where this was going," Harris said. "All we knew was there was a lot of trash. So when we went out to the zones, we had four zones ... and the zones were so full of trash. It was like it had never been done before."
The SHINE team upkeeps different zones across Ypsilanti, such as downtown and Frog Island Park. Most of the cleanup has been small stuff like cigarette butts and plastics on the ground. The team consists of five men who rotate out every 90 days. Workers receive $18 an hour and have access to resources for emergencies, skill development and more.
Even with a rotating roster of workers, Harris sees the impact the program has on the program participants.
"With the guys on the crew, they always express to me how they are appreciative ... because these are guys that come out of prison and wouldn't ordinarily get employment because they come from prison," Harris said.
The Ypsilanti City Code Ordinance Section 58-61 protects a person from discrimination based on a felony and/or misdemeanor conviction.
Harris said that strangers have come up and shown appreciation to the team for their hard work.
"Do you know what it feels like to to have a stranger walk up to you and say that I appreciate what you're doing?" Harris said. "Those words are astronomical when you think about it."
Elize Jekabson, the executive director of the YDDA, said that they've gotten compliments on how clean Ypsi has been.
"The feedback has been really good. .... From the business owners ... I've been told they've been seeing the guys out there," Jekabson said.
When participants in the program are rotated out, Harris said he and other supervisors write letters to support the crew members' job searches.
"It's not like we're just dropping them off and letting them just go," Harris said. "We got them."
Darrell Williams, a SHINE crew member who has been in the program for a year, said that SHINE really helped him.
"I was hanging with bad influences," Williams said. "But then I went to county jail and I met Ariana and Elyse."
Williams took a life skills class with LAITR in the county jail and said it changed him.
"[Ariana] puts a lot of effort into helping people," Williams said.
Dyson Slater, another member of the SHINE crew, joined this year.
"I just came home on April 9 of this year, and I got hired by the SHINE crew in July," Slater said.
He said that the SHINE crew has been a blessing because they help him with being able to meet his basic needs.
"I find that once you return to society, what ends up taking place is you're reincarcerated all over again," Slater said.
He also said that having a criminal record kept him from getting employment.
But SHINE has made an impact on Slater's life, and he said that it's been an honor and privilege to not only be a part of the crew but help clean the community as well.
The SHINE program has been impactful for not only the crew of formerly incarcerated individuals but also for the community.
"We're not just here working in the community, but we are part of the community itself," Harris said.
