Our programming and projects include, but are not limited to:
Transitional Housing
We currently operate eight homes in LA and Riverside Counties open to men, women, and children, with options for sober living or harm-reduction housing. All of our services are available to our houseguests, many of whom have been unable to obtain housing after being released due to their conviction histories. Case Management
Our Case Management specialists provide support to our guests with obtaining necessary documents/identification and accessing insurance, education, healthcare, clothing, food, & more. Peer Support
Our houseguests are not alone - our support specialists, having experienced incarceration, addiction, and homelessness themselves - understand our guests' needs and the barriers they face. We’re here to meet our guests wherever they are in their journeys and to support them moving forward through empowerment, support with recovery, referrals, and mentorship. Family Reunification, Equity, & Empowerment (FREE) Project
Mass incarceration affects not just individuals, but families - many of our community members and guests experience family separation at the hands of the child welfare system. The FREE Project is system-impacted led and organizes parents and family members in a non-judgemental space, advising on best practices and dependency court procedures. We recently sponsored and passed a statewide bill that eliminates major barriers to child placement and allows family members with criminal convictions unrelated to caring for children to be considered as placement options allowing for suitable family members with criminal convictions to step up in times of crisis. Employment
Through our Path to SEED program, we connect guests and community members with employment opportunities and provide training & support regarding obtaining and retaining employment, often a major hurdle for formerly incarcerated individuals. Marshall Legal Clinic
Our free clinics provide relief for expungements, wills/trusts, immigration, and more with the support of local legal organizations. Policy Advocacy
In the past year, we’ve co-sponsored and/or supported nearly a dozen statewide bills to reduce the scale of mass incarceration and its collateral consequences. We’ve also worked locally to influence Riverside County to reduce criminal history look-back periods from 7 years to 3 years in 2017 and to enable youth coming out of probation to be able to stay with their family members in subsidized housing.
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Grassroots Organizing & Civic Engagement
Our Participatory Defense organizing model (based on Silicon Valley De-Bug) empowers family and community members in the courtroom to positively impact their loved one’s outcome and to bring them home. As fiscal sponsor and start-up organization of Riverside All of Us or None (a chapter of a national initiative of formerly incarcerated people, family members, and allies advocating for the rights of the currently and formerly incarcerated people) we ensure that system impacted leadership remains at the center of the fight to keep our community together and address the social problems that incarceration purports to solve. Our community outreach team also disseminates voter registration and public health information regarding COVID-19, and we organize food and clothing relief for community members in need.
(951) 898-0862 office@startingoverinc.org
thepowerisnowmeida
AUGUST2023
