When Bennie Lee was only 13 years old he became a leader of the Apache Vice Lords, an African-American street gang on Chicago’s west side. In and out of prison for years, Lee eventually landed on death row in the aftermath of a deadly riot at the Pontiac Correctional Center in Illinois. Lee was acquitted, set himself straight, and is now helping the formerly incarcerated imagine a life on the outside.
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The Recidivism Effect

All communities face certain challenges.

But some people see challenges as opportunities.

On Placemakers, we bring you stories about the spaces we inhabit and the people who shape them. Join us as we criss-cross the country, introducing you to real people in real communities — people who make a difference in how we travel, work, and live.

You’ll never look at your community the same way again.

Society & Culture

Personal Journals

History

Philosophy

Places & Travel

Government

Imagine a place where you can stroll down the sidewalk, wave to your
neighbors on their porch, then pick up your dry cleaning or have lunch at the café.
That’s the kind of walkable, compact, mixed-use community envisioned by the
founders of New Urbanism—including Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk. But some people say
there’s a reason one of Plater-Zyberk’s developments played a starring role in a
memorable Hollywood film about overly constructed reality.
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The Quest to Make the Perfect Place

Seattle’s Yesler Terrace was the first racially integrated housing project in the U.S. Today, it remains a multicultural nexus for the city. The Seattle Housing Authority and its partners at JPMorgan Chase have been hard at work rebuilding and rejuvenating this historic community’s infrastructure and investing in its economic sustainability. Join Brian Babylon as he explores how the city has tackled such an enormous revitalization project. 
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Paid Podcast: Uniting a Neighborhood

George Leonidas Leslie was perhaps the most sensational—and successful!—criminal in American history. An architect by training, he planned and pulled off a series of record-breaking bank robberies throughout the late 1800s and arguably ushered in the modern heist. On this episode of Placemakers, producer Mike Vuolo explores the unholy relationship between burglary and the built environment.
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When Good Placemakers Go Bad

Long before the Black Lives Matter movement swept the U.S., Dallas’ police
chief tried to diffuse the anger and mistrust between minority communities and
police. His reforms made an impact. The number of people killed in confrontations
with police fell, just as crime fell. But Dallas was still torn apart by racial hate last
summer, leaving five officers dead and the city in shock. It fell on the police chief to
bring people back together in the aftermath.
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A City of Blue Ribbons

How does a small group of people change politics? The Free State Project
wants libertarians to concentrate themselves in New Hampshire and promote
libertarian causes. Thousands have already moved, and thousands more are on the
way. But not everyone is happy to see them coming.
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The Recidivism Effect

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