The Homecoming Project was the focus of First Church’s Sept. 26 Learning Hour. The Homecoming Project is a three-year success story supporting people by providing stable housing when they leave prison and return home to their communities and families. Before formerly incarcerated people can find jobs, address health problems, or learn new skills, they first need a safe and stable place to live. Yet the odds are stacked against people leaving prison, despite their best intentions and ambitions.
Many people have no home to return to and face a real estate market where affordable housing is scarce and potentially off-limits to someone with a criminal record. In effect, we marginalize people, setting them up to fail, at the very moment we should embrace them. The Homecoming Project has a solution to this problem, matching participants with host homeowners to secure stable housing for each person being released. It has been successful for the past three years, no person has returned to prison. Contact Ronda Franklin at Impact Justice and the Homecoming Project for more information on how you can become a host.