The Streets Less Traveled with Former Gang Leader Curtis Toler

CURTIS TOLER is a Chicago native and former leader of one of the city’s most notorious street gangs, Curtis serves as Director of Outreach for Chicago Cred. He is committed to impacting the culture of violence in Chicago by linking at-risk young men with chances to reset their lives through job training and permanent employment opportunities. Before joining CRED, Curtis was a gang intervention specialist and a spokesman for the peacemakers at the Faith Community of St. Sabastian’s Church. A member of the Community Justice Task Force and a Chicago Gang Historian, Curtis has received recognition from the State of Illinois Senate for his leadership efforts to bring peace to the streets, his commitment to improving the quality of life in the communities as well as for his commitment to advocating for positive changes to reduce violence in our neighborhoods. Curtis has been seen on HBO’s The CHI and The Daily Show with Trevor Noah as well as a contributor to Amanda Ripley’s book, High Conflict. IN THIS EPISODE...Curtis shares his story with Joe; he came up in a high violent, high crime neighborhood. He was also the son of a prominent gang member. Curtis explains how he became involved with gang life and eventually moved up through the ranks to become a leader. He also shares how he decided to make a change, get out of the violence, and become an advocate for change within the inner city of Chicago, where most children and young adults are not given an opportunity at a life outside of crime and violence. Breakdown with Curtis Toler: Chapter 1 (0:00) Intro

Joe introduces Curtis Toler Chapter 2 (2:40) Curtis’ start

Curtis talks about his upbringing from when he was a child in the inner city of Chicago Chapter 3 (12:53) Getting into the gang life

From being jumped into a gang at age 11, to what gang life was like including getting incarcerated Chapter 4 (28:49) Series of horrible events

After finding his mother murdered, Curtis hit a low point and was violet. Meanwhile, he was moving up the ranks within his gang Chapter 5 (47:26) Deciding to Leave the Gang

The birth of his son left Curtis feeling the need to leave the gang and street life behind. He wasn’t able to quickly leave and had a series of setbacks Chapter 6 (58:52) Starting Chicago CRED

Starting a program focused on helping young people who are involved in gangs or criminal activity and giving them opportunities they weren’t given before Chapter 7 (1:02:30) Social media plays a part in gang conflict

Social media is now having an impact on street violence. When someone makes disrespectful comments online it can incite violence IRL Chapter 8 (1:14:16) Programs starting in pre-school

Starting early intervention is key to letting kids know there is a different path for them Chapter 9 (1:17:12) How to help

First is prayer, and second is if you care then you are there. You can mentor, tutor, financially or reach out to your local government Chapter 10 (1:24:25) Wrapping up

Joe wraps up the episode and shares his takeaways Material Referenced in this interview:

→https://www.chicagocred.org/

→https://www.amazon.com/High-Conflict-Why-Get-Trapped/dp/1982128569

→The Daily Show ft Curtis Toler 📞 Connecting with Curtis Toler:

→https://www.facebook.com/curtis.a.toler

→https://www.instagram.com/curtistoler/

→https://twitter.com/thecurtistoler 👊 To learn more about Not Almost There by visiting this link → Not Almost There http://notalmostthere.com/​ Connect with Joe on social here:

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