Hi everyone!

I have been fortunate enough to have been at RISE for a year and a half now. During this year and a half, I have gotten to see so much of the impact that RISE has on its participants and have created connections that I will treasure always. From being deemed the Data Diva by a peer facilitator of our In-Prison Program to talking with an individual who was going up for parole about how anxious they were but also about how they had a list of things they wanted to watch once they were out, I have seen the love, care, compassion, and support that RISE’s programming and services provide for the people we serve and it is an honor to be a part of that.

 I was recently talking to an In-Prison Program participant, and we were talking about their pitch for their upcoming graduation. They were so excited! They had said there were so many people with ideas that don’t know how to go about starting a business but that RISE had given them the tools to know how to go about it. They kept repeating that this was their chance and how they weren’t going to let it go by.

RISE provides opportunities for so many of our participants. Our reentry staff provide resources and emotional support for those going through the crisis that is reentry. The business academy gives a foundation for starting a business many have dreamed of. The family program provides a community for those impacted by the criminal legal system (both family members and those directly). Lastly, the in-prison program provides a place of belonging for those incarcerated. Most of all, all of these programs provide something so important to exist in this chaotic world: hope.

During that same conversation with the In-Prison program participant, I asked if they had family coming to the graduation and they said they didn’t. They continued on to say that RISE is their family though!

Supporting RISE means supporting an organization working to break the cycles of incarceration and it also means supporting an organization that so many of our participants view as family and as where they belong.

Thank you for your support of RISE. We couldn’t do what we do without it!

Nora