Wildlife and nature

Animal shelters and rescues

Theater and dance

Rivers, parks and trails

Hunger and food

Schools and learning

Housing and homelessness

Community health

Mental health

Mentoring and foster care

Legal help and rights

Jobs and money help

Atlanta

The Triangle

Everywhere

The Collective Workshop

Royal Animal Refuge

Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Atlanta

Georgia Advancing Communities Together

Atlanta Writers Club

Cobb Collaborative

Bosleys Place

Jewish Fertility Foundation

Jennifer C. Jackson

Reginald Boynton

Dr. Doris Bullock

Stephanie Dixon

Tashani Gaskins

Gwendolyn Hinton

Atoya Hodges

Maybelyn Rodríguez Laureano

Kimberly Stone

Salem Barcus

Chalyne Barrow

Ladale Benson

Chrystal Damesworth

Grace Flake

Crystal Gibson

Shirlye Grandy

Robin Harrington

Anthony James

Regina Jaynes

Cherisse Kendrick

Bethany Neigebauer

Lydia Peebles

Megan Peevey

Jerri Pitre

Bonita Sharp

Programs

Collections

About

Barriers

Thank you to the Anonymous Trust and to each of the partner agencies who joined the room and conversation on Tuesday for HOMECOMING at Greg Poole Jr. All Faiths Chapel at Dix. You showed up with clarity and commitment, naming what has improved for women’s reentry and what is still stuck. More than eight in ten of you said basic education, GED, and literacy have gotten better since 2018. Two-thirds said occupational licensing barriers have not changed at all. We are helping women earn credentials, but not yet letting them use them. When six organizations shared that they want to work with women before release but cannot get access, someone committed to identifying them and getting them in. That momentum is exactly why HOMECOMING matters. In the next two weeks, you will receive the attendee directory, full Mentimeter results, insights from the paper scales and maps, and next steps from the working group. Please add your photos to the Evite photo-share email, and watch for four short survey questions later this week. We are humbled and honored to have shared energy and space with you in such meaningful and intentional conversation. @flonc @anonymoustrustfoundation Operation Gateway

GUIDING PRINCIPLE FOR MARCH: We value people over process, removing barriers where they exist and being mindful not to create new obstacles. All of our Guiding Principles are available at arise-collective.org/guiding-principles.

Before counseling, employment, classes, or reunifying with family, a woman coming home from prison needs one thing ... a way to get where she needs to go. Most women come home with no car, no bus pass, and no support system. Your gift ensures she can reach probation meetings, treatment, classes, job opportunities, and reunification visits with her children. Safe and reliable transportation to medical, mental health, and recovery appointments is essential. It’s mission-driven.rt appointments, to her child, you’re funding more than a ride. You’re fueling a mission-driven pathway to stability, dignity, and independence. Safe and reliable transportation to medical, mental health, and recovery appointments is more than necessary. It’s mission-driven. Will you help provide reliable transportation for women rebuilding their lives after prison? Transportation is one of the most significant barriers in reentry: --90% of women are unemployed and without transportation upon release. --In the first 90 days of reentry, women reintegrating are forced to juggle multiple in-person appointments each week, including medical and mental health care, treatment programs, court appointments, probation, benefit applications, and new employment paperwork- too often without access to transportation. --Missing even a few mandatory appointments can mean losing housing, losing a job offer, or violating release terms. This year, our team provided over 1,700 rides, ensuring women could safely access what they needed to stabilize. In addition, support from our community partnerships enables four to six women to purchase their own vehicles within the first year. One participant, Marissa*, put it plainly, “If your team hadn’t picked me up that first week, I would have gone right back. I had no way to get anywhere.” When women have reliable transportation, employers get dependable workers, children stay connected to their mothers, courts see higher compliance, and public safety improves. Here at Arise Collective, we provide safe transportation for the first 90 days for women like Marissa, but the impact is long-lasting. Give today: https://arise-collective.org/woven-together

It’s no surprise that the majority of women released from incarceration return home with almost nothing and are immediately hit with systemic barriers upon reentry. Maria* was one of those women. She only had a plastic tote and a $45 gate check. No ID. No phone. She was given a second chance, but no one was waiting to bring her home. From the beginning, her reentry seemed anything but hopeful. But because of supporters like you, Maria didn’t have to figure out her first night alone. She had safe and supportive housing to welcome her, and instead of feeling set up to fail, she began to feel hopeful. Nearly all women in the NC prison system will return to our community, women like Maria. Today, she’s employed, stable, reunited with her children, and planning her next steps — because she first had a helping hand. Will you help ensure the next woman has the same chance? Housing is one of the most significant predictors of whether a woman rebuilds her life or reenters crisis. Formerly incarcerated women are 10 times more likely to be homeless than the general population. Housing is the number one barrier, and women are at the highest risk of homelessness. Direct access to housing is tied to public safety, family stability, and long-term economic mobility, as well as for women reintegrating into our community. It is imperative. Your support makes it possible for women, like Maria, to receive the necessary support upon reentry: --Safe transitional housing through the Women’s Reentry Project --Daily case management, peer support, and trauma-informed services --Transportation to medical, mental health, and recovery appointments --A structured path toward employment, education, and family reunification And here’s what that means for our community: --70% of women in our program secured or maintained employment last year --Mothers reunited safely with their children --Workplaces gained dependable employees --Families began breaking cycles of incarceration Will you help welcome the next woman home? https://arise-collective.org/woven-together *Names and images are altered to protect the privacy of the women we serve.

Friends, As we launch our year-end campaign, I want to begin with a truth: Here in North Carolina, women are the fastest-growing segment of the incarcerated population, and more than 95 percent will return home one day. Women returning from prison are coming home to overwhelming barriers: no housing, untreated medical and mental health conditions, limited employment options, no transportation, and trauma that has often gone unaddressed for years. Without support, nearly 30 percent will return to prison within three years. This is the landscape women are stepping into. And this is where your support changes outcomes. Arise Collective’s mission is to equip women with the tools and support they need to heal, grow, and thrive, both in prison and in the communities to which they return. Your investment in this work ensures that justice-involved women can access safe housing, trauma-informed counseling, medical and behavioral health care, chaplaincy support, transportation, treatment, job readiness assistance, and the tools they need to move forward with dignity. One participant shared: “I arrived with nothing and no hope. I have never felt so cared for. I honestly feel like I am in Heaven.” – Sarah*, WRP participant This is what your support makes possible: real care, real stability, and real safety for women who would otherwise be navigating reentry alone. We have much more work ahead. Too many women are still returning home without support and without the resources they need to be safe, find stability, and reunite with their families. That is why our goal is to raise 40,000 dollars by December 31. We can’t do this without you. Thank you for helping to build safer, more compassionate communities in North Carolina. Give today at https://arise-collective.org/woven-together.

Arise Collective Essentials

Guiding principles

Reentry

Collective

Collections

Account

Barriers

More collections