Appendix C: Access Living Peer Facilitator Biographies
Cedrick Frison shares wisdom gained from hard lessons of life on the streets of the West Side of Chicago, including the effects of drug use, the trauma of living with violence both at home and on the street and going to prison nine times before breaking free from that cycle and becoming the man he is today. He is a former high school dropout and is now completing work on a bachelor’s degree, and is a nationally certified addiction recovery specialist. He is proud to have a home and family now and serves as a board member of the Fully Free Campaign of Heartland Alliance. Cedrick is a gun violence survivor with PTSD and vision loss.
Willie Rolling Jr. is a black disabled man from the West Side of Chicago. He became a survivor of gun violence when he was just 19. In 2020, he wrote and self-published a book titled Miracle Manabout his experiences and how to overcome life’s uncertainties and goals. Willie considers his most significant accomplishments to be completing his associate’s and bachelor’s degrees at Robert Morris College, where his story made the front page of the college newspaper. He wrote and published a second book about his spirituality and faith in 2021. He continues to work diligently, writing books and movie scripts and encouraging others to turn their pain into art.
Eric Vazquez is a 48-year-old Hispanic man and father of three children. He was paralyzed at the age of 19 in a shooting. Since then, he completed college and became a medical bill collector. Eric has also volunteered in various Chicago neighborhoods, mentoring and giving lectures on gun violence, access to services, and helping facilitate the process of becoming independent as a disabled person. He has also been an advocate and a voice for the disabled and minority communities in Chicago.
Michael Walthall was stopped at a traffic light when a car pulled up next to him and people began to shoot at his car with no known motivation or provocation. When Michael was taken to hospital, he learned that he had been shot multiple times and sustained injuries to his lungs. Further, the T4 and T5 vertebrae of his spine had been damaged, leaving him paralyzed. Mike was a college student and working at the time of the shooting, which changed not just his life but the lives of his family and friends, who helped him deal with the physical, emotional and psychological trauma. Post-injury, Mike returned to school to complete his bachelor’s degree in business administration.
Simone Wilson has more than 15 years of progressively responsible experience in advocacy, motivational speaking and community outreach. Simone has used the experiences of her difficult childhood and mentally ill adulthood to become a youth mentor. She discovered her passion for advocating in 2001 when she volunteered in the special education department at George W. Collins High School, which she later attended in 2004. She has created alliances with different organizations in her journey of advocacy.