Success Stories: Allen Flanagan 
Allen Flanagan graduated from U-Turn Permitted in July 2004. Although he didn't get a job through NLEN, "what I got was better than a job...I got a change in the way I think." He likes to stay in touch with the people who helped him. His criminal background is "about as long as this room." He is "grateful for the people I met at NLEN." He works at UIC and is an independent painting contractor. He's in his third year of college working toward his bachelor's degree. Allen says, "ain't nothing impossible."
According to Allen, when he began U-Turn, "statistic said only 2 of 20 would make it...I said, 'Okay, where's the other one? 'Cause I'm the first.'"
Q: What is a lesson or tool you learned that helps keep you in the right mindset for advancing, especially since sometimes it takes a long time to get a job?
Allen: "The people that's coming behind me...I can look at them and know that the game's still behind me" and waiting for him. Allen says Tiffany, NLEN's financial counselor, helped him think about his future. "I need people to help me save me from me."
Q: What could have helped you change your life sooner that NLEN can think about while trying to work with young adults engaged in the system?
Allen: "[To] reach a generation that has no hope," NLEN should do what helped Allen - "it took people that went down the road already to get through to me." Others will respond to people who "came down the same road" and "been where I been." Referring to street life and especially young adults, including himself when he was younger, "the game was fixed from the beginning...we thought we could change the game."
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