Willette Benford

Director, Re-entry

Office of the Mayor

Sr Recovery Team Program Mgr

City of Chicago Department Of Family And Support Services

Willette Benford is a wife, mother, minister, and fierce advocate for criminal legal system change. She is the first Director of Reentry for the City of Chicago. Willette is part of the Policy team within the mayor’s office. As The Director of Reentry, she leads the Mayor’s Interagency Reentry Council which is a whole-of-government and cross-sector approach to supporting justice-involved residents to thrive. Her work focuses on shaping partnerships, programmatic investments, and citywide policy changes for returning residents, focused on economic mobility, healthcare, housing access, and more. Prior to her role in the mayor's office, she led decarceration efforts for Live Free Illinois and served as the board chair for the Heartland Alliance’s Fully Free Campaign to end permanent punishments. Willette was part of a team that succeeded in the passing of the Just Housing Initiative in Cook County which advocated for fair housing laws for returning residents and people with records. She has also worked on national and statewide campaigns to ensure the allocation of funds from the American Rescue Plan Act to gun violence prevention efforts. Willette is a 2020–2021 Community Change Women’s fellow, and a 2021-2022 Soros Justice Fellow. As a Soros Justice Fellow, Mrs. Benford created the Cost of Dignity Project, which supported and elevated the leadership of Black women impacted by the criminal legal system. She has served as a reentry subject matter expert on numerous panels, and conferences across the country. She was a member of the Illinois Lt. Governor’s Children of Incarcerated Parents task force and is currently on the Governor’s Crime Reduction Task Force and the Domestic Violence Pretrial Task Force. Mrs. Benford has received many awards and recognition for her work and contributions within the re-entry community. She resides on the south side of Chicago.