Environment
A safe, secure place to live from the first day home, so a man can stop surviving and start planning.
Building a bridge home
Cedar Valley Bridge to Hope is creating transitional housing and mentorship for men coming home from incarceration: a safe place to land, people to walk alongside, and real work to grow into.
Why it matters
The first months home decide a lot
A man walking out of prison needs housing and income right away, often without a driver's license, savings, or a job waiting. Old debts come due. Relationships have to be rebuilt. Without help, those demands stack up fast.
Nearly one in three people released from an Iowa prison return within three years.1 The risk climbs sharply in the months after release, which is exactly when stable housing and steady support make the biggest difference.
We want to meet men in that window with a place to live, a plan, and people who will stay with them for the long haul.
Iowa Department of Corrections, three-year return-to-prison rate of 32.8% for the FY22–25 release cohort, reported Sept. 8, 2025. Source
Our model
Four E's
Everything we are building rests on four commitments to every man who comes through our doors.
Evaluation
An honest look at each resident's needs, with a plan built around him rather than a program he has to fit.
Education
Life skills, job training, and mentorship that help a man not only function in the community, but grow and thrive in it.
Employment
Skilled work and job mentoring, on site and with local employers, so every resident can support himself.
I love to see people win. My hope is to help people move from needing assistance to finding stability, confidence, and purpose, and ultimately becoming partners in helping others do the same.
2020
Incorporated as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit
6
Board members drawn from ministry, business, and reentry work
~2 yrs
Planned time in the program, from arrival to independence
10
Tiny homes in our first site plan, around a shared house and workshop
Get involved
Help us build it
We are a young, board-led organization working toward our first site. Gifts, skilled hands, and good counsel all move this forward.