{"id":1169,"date":"2026-04-10T15:50:57","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T20:50:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/unitedwaydallas.org\/thepitch\/?page_id=1169"},"modified":"2026-04-12T17:40:57","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T22:40:57","slug":"cheri-norris","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/unitedwaydallas.org\/thepitch\/cheri-norris\/","title":{"rendered":"Cheri Norris"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>Meet the Judges<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Cheri Chafin Norris is a nationally-recognized recovery advocate, investor, and expert in<br \/>skills-first hiring. She consults with companies ranging from small businesses to Fortune 500 corporations on background-friendly hiring and Human Resources initiatives. As a keynote speaker, she has given memorable presentations at events nationwide.<\/p>\n<p>For more than a decade, Cheri has worked to help formerly incarcerated people and those in recovery find meaningful full-time jobs. In 2016, she created Cornbread Hustle, Inc., the first staffing agency focused on second-chance job opportunities. Cornbread Hustle has placed more than 3,000 eager workers in jobs around North Texas and the U.S.<\/p>\n<p>In 2021, Cheri was recognized as Social Innovator of the Year by United Way of Metropolitan Dallas. She was named to the D CEO Magazine 40 Under 40 list that year. Other honors include recognition in the Texas House of Representatives, a cover story in the September 2023 issue of D CEO, and the 2024 HR Executive of the Year &#8211; Small Company award from DallasHR.<\/p>\n<p>In 2022, Cheri created the 12-Week Starting Over Program, an interactive video series available to inmates in prisons nationwide.<\/p>\n<p>In 2024, Cheri invested six figures of her own money to launch Junk Hustlers, LLC, a junk<br \/>removal and hauling company powered by Cornbread Hustle. Through this enterprise, Cheri aims to provide even more skills-first jobs for people with criminal backgrounds, in Texas and nationwide.<\/p>\n<p>Cheri unashamedly shares her struggles with addiction to methamphetamine and alcohol, and how she overcame these challenges to serve and inspire others. She published a book,\u00a0The Purpose of Abundance, on her 7 year sobriety anniversary: Christmas day, 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--more--><br \/>\n<!-- {\"type\":\"layout\",\"children\":[{\"type\":\"section\",\"props\":{\"image_position\":\"center-center\",\"style\":\"default\",\"title_breakpoint\":\"xl\",\"title_position\":\"top-left\",\"title_rotation\":\"left\",\"vertical_align\":\"middle\",\"width\":\"default\"},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"row\",\"children\":[{\"type\":\"column\",\"props\":{\"image_position\":\"center-center\",\"position_sticky_breakpoint\":\"m\"},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"panel\",\"props\":{\"content\":\"\n\n<p>Cheri Chafin Norris is a nationally-recognized recovery advocate, investor, and expert in<br \/>skills-first hiring. She consults with companies ranging from small businesses to Fortune 500 corporations on background-friendly hiring and Human Resources initiatives. As a keynote speaker, she has given memorable presentations at events nationwide.<\/p>\n\n\\n\n\n<p>For more than a decade, Cheri has worked to help formerly incarcerated people and those in recovery find meaningful full-time jobs. In 2016, she created Cornbread Hustle, Inc., the first staffing agency focused on second-chance job opportunities. Cornbread Hustle has placed more than 3,000 eager workers in jobs around North Texas and the U.S.<\/p>\n\n\\n\n\n<p>In 2021, Cheri was recognized as Social Innovator of the Year by United Way of Metropolitan Dallas. She was named to the D CEO Magazine 40 Under 40 list that year. Other honors include recognition in the Texas House of Representatives, a cover story in the September 2023 issue of D CEO, and the 2024 HR Executive of the Year - Small Company award from DallasHR.<\/p>\n\n\\n\n\n<p>In 2022, Cheri created the 12-Week Starting Over Program, an interactive video series available to inmates in prisons nationwide.<\/p>\n\n\\n\n\n<p>In 2024, Cheri invested six figures of her own money to launch Junk Hustlers, LLC, a junk<br \/>removal and hauling company powered by Cornbread Hustle. Through this enterprise, Cheri aims to provide even more skills-first jobs for people with criminal backgrounds, in Texas and nationwide.<\/p>\n\n\\n\n\n<p>Cheri unashamedly shares her struggles with addiction to methamphetamine and alcohol, and how she overcame these challenges to serve and inspire others. She published a book,\u00a0The Purpose of Abundance, on her 7 year sobriety anniversary: Christmas day, 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\",\"content_column_breakpoint\":\"m\",\"image_align\":\"left\",\"image_box_shadow\":\"medium\",\"image_grid_breakpoint\":\"m\",\"image_grid_column_gap\":\"large\",\"image_grid_row_gap\":\"large\",\"image_grid_width\":\"2-5\",\"image_svg_color\":\"emphasis\",\"image_vertical_align\":false,\"link_style\":\"default\",\"link_text\":\"Read more\",\"margin_bottom\":\"default\",\"margin_top\":\"default\",\"meta\":\"Meet the Judges\",\"meta_align\":\"above-title\",\"meta_element\":\"div\",\"meta_style\":\"text-meta\",\"title_align\":\"top\",\"title_element\":\"h3\",\"title_grid_breakpoint\":\"m\",\"title_grid_width\":\"1-2\",\"title_hover_style\":\"reset\",\"title_margin\":\"small\",\"title_style\":\"h2\"},\"source_extended\":{\"props\":{\"title\":{\"query\":{\"name\":\"pages.singlePage\"},\"name\":\"title\"},\"image\":{\"query\":{\"name\":\"pages.singlePage\"},\"name\":\"featuredImage.url\"}}}}]}]}],\"name\":\"Meet the Judges\"}],\"version\":\"5.0.22\"} --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Meet the Judges Cheri Chafin Norris is a nationally-recognized recovery advocate, investor, and expert inskills-first hiring. She consults with companies ranging from small businesses to Fortune 500 corporations on background-friendly hiring and Human Resources initiatives. As a keynote speaker, she has given memorable presentations at events nationwide. For more than a decade, Cheri has worked [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1160,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1169","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitedwaydallas.org\/thepitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitedwaydallas.org\/thepitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitedwaydallas.org\/thepitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitedwaydallas.org\/thepitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitedwaydallas.org\/thepitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1169"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/unitedwaydallas.org\/thepitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1169\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitedwaydallas.org\/thepitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitedwaydallas.org\/thepitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}