Jerome Dillard has dedicated his life’s work to opening doors for others and supporting individuals as they transition into the community after incarceration, and now that community wants to celebrate the life and legacy of the longtime executive director of EX-incarcerated People Organizing (EXPO) of Wisconsin with a special retirement celebration on Friday, Dec. 12, at the Black Business Hub on Madison’s South Side.
Dillard leads EXPO of Wisconsin, a statewide, peer-led movement that focuses on reentry, justice, and community healing for former prisoners upon their release from institutions. Friday night will be a special night to celebrate and honor the retiring Dillard, who is a revered figure in the reentry community.
“This is an invitation to the community, to anyone who has been touched by Jerome …. and we know, myself included, that he has just made such an impact for so long for those of us that, quite frankly, everyone else turned away from … but he didn’t,” Marianne Oleson, the operations director at EXPO of Wisconsin, tells Madison365. “To so many people, he said, ‘You mattered. You deserve a shot.’ He literally saved my life twice.”…