Environment
A safe place to live.
Residents live in their own small home within a supervised, mentored community, close enough to support one another and far enough from old pressures to start fresh.
A place to land, and room to grow
We are working toward a self-sustaining transitional community: a shared house, small private homes, and on-site work, built around mentorship.
The four E's
Evaluation
A plan built around the man.
Each resident's needs are assessed when he arrives (work history, transportation, debts, family, and more) and met with specific next steps rather than a one-size program.
Education
Skills to grow, not just get by.
Life skills and hands-on job training, alongside mentors who have walked this road and community partners who know their fields.
Employment
Work that pays and builds a résumé.
On-site enterprises such as the workshop and sawmill provide hands-on training and help sustain the community, while job mentoring connects residents to employers across the Cedar Valley.
The site
What we hope to build
A rural property near Waterloo with room for a main house, ten tiny homes around a shared green, a workshop for job training and on-site business, and a sawmill. Living close together makes mentorship, coaching, and rides to work and appointments practical.
Getting there
Phase one
Underway
Groundwork
- Bring on a community engagement and development coordinator
- Visit successful reentry communities and learn from them
- Complete a feasibility study and policy framework
- Build a coalition of churches, businesses, and agencies
- Work with city planning and zoning toward a site
Phase two
Next
Build
- Secure land for the community
- Remodel the main house for offices and shared space
- Extend utilities and build ten tiny homes
- Raise the workshop and set up the sawmill
Phase three
Ahead
Open and grow
- Welcome the first residents
- Let on-site work carry more of the operating cost
- In time, adapt the model for families reuniting after incarceration
Along the way we have been coached by local leaders at One City United, House of Hope, and Habitat for Humanity, worked with city officials and planning and zoning, and taken part in statewide reentry gatherings.
Applications
Applications are not open yet
We are not accepting residents until the first site is ready. If you are coming home soon, or you work with someone who is, leave your details and we will contact you as soon as applications open.
We use this information only to follow up with you about the program.