In our society, stigma against the formerly incarcerated makes it difficult for those re-entering society to begin their journey to a fresh start. Those without a supportive network often struggle to meet their needs for housing, jobs, transportation, food, clothes, mental and physical health and more. Too often, these experiences contribute to high rates of homelessness, recidivism, substance use, overdose, and suicide among those who have served time.
Faith-based group Freedom Life Ministries believes that everyone deserves hope, opportunity and a second chance. For more than 11 years, Freedom Life has been committed to serving the needs of justice-involved individuals and their families in McDowell County. Assisting with reentry and recovery for individuals both in and out of jail or prison, Freedom Life offers a forgiving and non-judgmental community to help people get back on their feet. They provide advocacy, mentorship, case management, spiritual counseling, connection to basic needs resources, support groups and more. Freedom Life even accepts donations of used vehicles from the community to provide for free to clients who need transportation.
When Freedom Life was established in McDowell County in 2012, there were not enough local resources to meet the needs of those re-entering the community. Seeing this as an opportunity, Freedom Life embarked on a three-part strategy to increase the local resource capacity. This strategy included creating the most effective reentry programming possible, forming a Reentry Council to bring all individual and organizational stakeholders together as a collaborative, and working through this Reentry Council to strategize, develop and implement community resource development efforts to support reentry. Ultimately, the goal of this work was to develop capacity to provide adequate emergency and long-term transitional housing options for justice involved individuals in McDowell.
Facing similar resource limitations, Avery County, in partnership with Freedom Life, is now using the same three-part strategy to support their reentry and recovery community. Dogwood supported this partnership by providing a grant to Avery County to fund the acquisition of land for the development of emergency transitional housing. This new facility opened its doors on April 17, 2023, and Freedom Life looks forward to furthering their impact across this portion of the WNC region.
