Three prominent local leaders have announced the re-launching of the Honorable William H. Hall IV Entrepreneurship Center for incarcerated and formerly incarcerated individuals. The leaders opened the first Small Business Development Center in a correctional facility in the United States of America in 2024.
The leaders, all entrepreneurs, includes the center’s founder and managing director Judy Dawson, formerly Kane County Sheriff’s director of Diversion and Reentry Programs, the center’s director Corey Dixon, formerly Kane County Sheriff’s senior assistant director of Diversion and Reentry Programs, current Elgin City Councilman and the center’s executive director Rudy Gonzalez, formerly Kane County Sheriff’s Office Small Business Development Center executive director. While at the Kane County Sheriff’s Office, these three leaders helped business owners secure $597,000.00 in business bank loans in the first 10 months of 2025.
The center provides virtual and in-person programs and workforce development to teach justice involved and other aspiring entrepreneurs how to build and sustain their own businesses. The center will also provide education and professional development services to individuals who typically have no access to these services.
“The key to a justice involved individual’s successful reentry to society, is financial empowerment. The path is a background friendly, liveable wage job with benefits, and/or becoming a profitable business owner. Our mission is to help our clients thrive after incarceration,” said Dawson.
“Most individuals who experience the justice system give up hope on their lives and next steps to ever meet success. We’re here to change that.”, said Dixon, director of the Honorable William H. Hall IV Entrepreneurship Center.
Executive director Rudy Gonzalez, former Board Member for the Illinois Bankers Association, said “As a former small business lender, I’m pursuing my passion to help justice involved and formerly incarcerated individuals with financial literacy in efforts to help them achieve financial independence through business ownership.”
For more information visit https://williamhallcenter.org.
— Veronica Harrison