Marisol's Story Continued: A New Life And A Fresh Coat Of Paint

Our women may graduate, but they don’t leave our hearts.  Marisol, who graduated last year, is a perfect example. Since then, she has gotten married and moved into a new house. On a recent weekend, Oak's residents and volunteers showed up armed with paint and brushes.

The help meant a lot to Marisol, but it’s also important to our residents. Since graduating, Marisol has helped teach our relapse prevention class and served as a mentor. The weekend project is one way we can demonstrate that we want to be there for our women, even after they have moved out to start their new lives.

It’s important for another reason.  Marisol is beating the odds. Most former inmates struggle with housing insecurity.  

Female former inmates are ten times more likely to be homeless than women who have never been to prison. 

A recent study that looked at both male and female former inmates found that less than 40 percent lived in their own house or apartment. 

That’s one reason we provide our residents with work readiness and financial classes. It’s why we subsidize the cost of residency and want them to stay with us for at least six months after finding a job so that they can build a credit history. These are some of the factors that help ensure they will be able to avoid homelessness and the slide back into incarceration that threatens so many former inmates.