Harvey House

Faith-based finalists: Forgetting about yesterday, preparing for the future | Daniel James Divine

CHICAGO—Stephen Kuta had a good mind for math, but his beer-drinking, weed-smoking ways left him expelled from two different high schools in Chicago's south suburbs. He graduated instead to cocaine and took to writing bad checks in his grandmother's name to feed his addiction. His step-father banned him from the house, but his mom, after hiding her purse, occasionally snuck him in.

Paychecks from Kuta's union carpentry job didn't last the weekend, so he began robbing drug dealers at gunpoint. Weapons violations and eight battery charges—two against police officers—sent him to the county jail around 20 times. Kuta went to state-run drug recovery centers. At one, a self-examination exercise required him to sit in front of a mirror and speak to his reflection. He punched the mirror.