Success Story

The month of April, a time of transition and a season of new beginnings, is designated by President Biden as Second Chance month, a time when we “reaffirm the importance of helping people who were formerly incarcerated reenter society.”

 Urban Leaguer Chester Hollman has made the most of his new beginning.

Wrongfully incarcerated in 1991, Chester spent 28 years in prison before witnesses admitted they lied at his trial under threats from the police. After his exoneration in 2019 with the help of the Pennsylvania Innocence Project, Chester came home and, within months, was referred to the Urban League of Philadelphia’s Out4Good re-entry program.

“When I went away, there were beepers and pagers. So, when I came home, I had no knowledge of how the world worked,” Chester said. “My friend Dennis Nicholson reached out to me and told me that he worked with the Out4Good program through the Urban League and mentioned that I should be part of their first class.”

Dennis Nicholson is the Director of Re-entry Services for  Out4Good, a 4-week-long intensive program that aims to fully reintegrate recently incarcerated individuals into society by offering job training and employment opportunities, intensive case management, and peer-to-peer supportive services. Since 2020, Out4Good has helped 374 men gain employment and start them on their journey to rebuilding their lives.

“I really appreciated what the program offered because it really helped me adjust after having been incarcerated for so long. I was one of 12 men in the program at the time, and it was online,” Chester said. “They gave me a laptop, which I’ve never had my own laptop before. They set you up with computer training, they teach you how to interview, and how to write your resume. They also help you set up an online bank account that gives you $500 upon opening the account. So, the program goes above and beyond to help you out, and I appreciated that.”

With the training he received at Out4Good, Chester secured a job as a Legal Assistant for the PA Institutional Law Project. Chester is charged with sorting through correspondence from currently incarcerated individuals with requests to review their cases and incidents of mistreatment and abuse.

It was when Dennis asked Chester if he’d be interested in volunteering and sharing his story with others who are incarcerated that Chester realized his true purpose.

“At first, Dennis asked me to speak at different events and tell my story,” Chester said. “It went from that to then traveling into the country prisons with the program to speak with men in prison. I’m not going to lie, it can be triggering to go into a facility I just left not too long ago, but I do it to instill hope. You know, if I didn’t have my family, I would’ve given up hope, especially after the way my case was handled, the years I spent locked up, and the issues I had to deal with inside. I didn’t think I was ever going to be released. There are some people that don’t have that support system at all. So, I go inside these prisons to instill the hope I know they need because there wasn’t a program that existed that came to visit me and try to do the same thing.”

For almost three years, Chester has worked alongside Dennis and his team as a Case Manager for the organization’s Pathway Home 3 program, visiting prisons in Pennsylvania in hopes to inspire men serving out their sentences and to help connect them to resources and the Urban League’s re-entry program.

“Seeing the success of my friend Dennis and even my own survival story, I want to show others who have been incarcerated that you can create a life for yourself out here; and that there are resources like the Out4Good program that can help with that. The Urban League provides essential services that fit the needs of its community, and its helpful that those services are accessible. So, whether they want to volunteer or if they know someone who could benefit from the program, we’re here.”

Chester doesn’t always appreciate the limelight, but he knows his story can help change the lives of others in his position.

“Since my life has been publicized so much, especially over the last few years, I like to be in the background. However, I would love to be more involved in my community much like I’m doing now with the re-entry program. But personally, I want to make sure I’m taking the steps to deal with the effects of being incarcerated and try to find peace of mind. God hasn’t brought me this far to leave me, so I’m going to try my hardest to make peace with the experiences of my past and move forward.”

The National Urban League’s Urban Reentry Jobs Program is currently located in various cities throughout the country. Since 2020, we have successfully serviced over 1,044 men, women, and young adults.