A mural honoring longtime U.S. Rep. Danny K. Davis on Chicago’s West Side. (WTTW News)

The nonprofit Safer Foundation provides assistance to citizens returning from incarceration. Much of its work is made possible thanks to the Second Chance Act, which was championed by longtime U.S. Rep. Danny K. Davis and passed in 2008 with bipartisan support.

Starting Thursday, Cook County probation officers will have a new place to refer some of the 20,000 people on probation. For many of them, finding work is critical to staying out of trouble with the law.