​Erick's Story

As told from his own perspective...

After 17 years of incarceration, I have now been home for five years. In that time, I have managed to accomplish all of the goals that I have set for myself in this time frame. It has taken a lot of work but has been fulfilling.

When I was released, I was fortunate to find employment as a computer technician with an environmental firm in downtown Milwaukee. This allowed me to complete my Associates in networking from MATC, and then my bachelor’s in management information systems from MSOE.

After graduating, I moved down to Chicago and took another job as a field technician with a Managed Service Provider downtown. While there I was given exposure to a wider variety of technologies and gained a number of industry certifications from CompTIA and VMWare. I remained with this company for a year and now work as a field engineer with a larger MSP, and am responsible for overseeing the network infrastructure for a diverse range of clients.

On a more personal note, I have been able to reconnect with my family and spend the quality time that I had missed for so long. I’ve also married and have my first child on the way, and we bought our first house just north of the city.

I definitely attribute a part of my success to the team at Project Return. Without them I would not have had access to the tools that were needed to make such a successful return to the community. They provided me with the knowledge and resources needed to obtain my first job and set of computer certifications.
​
Thanks for everything you do Project Return!