Mission Rebirth was founded September 25, 2020 and we received our 501c3 status January 22, 2021. We started our services to help obtain self-sufficiency for men and women who are formerly incarcerated, justice involved, or living in underserved communities.

 

Our original goal was to educate and train our clients so that they can successfully

transition back into society. We wanted to help them to find jobs and also help with resume

writing, basic computer skills, as well as helping them fill out applications for

employment, housing, SNAP, Medicaid, Social Security benefits, and other assistance. We wanted to become an agency with wrap around services and to provide linkages to all the services they need in one place.

 

We got our 1st office location in New Orleans in March of 2021. Once we started seeing clients in the office, we also saw a need for help with getting ID Cards, Birth Certificates, Primary Care/Behavioral Health appointments, shelter/transitional housing placements, and also finding linkages for housing for those who may have lost touch with their housing specialist.

We saw that the majority of our clients were either on the streets homeless, sleeping under bridges upon returning home, or staying house to house every few days. These clients needed to get medical insurance, a place to lay their heads, a phone to find a job, a way to check in with the probation/parole office, a way to connect with their children & families, transportation for appointments/job interviews, child care to start a job, also internet access just to google COVID testing locations & bus routes. If that wasn’t enough, they still needed to find other resources to make sure they were able to feed themselves day to day. It was at this point that we realized the “immediate barriers” before helping with workforce issues.

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Here is a list of our added services and accomplishments since opening our first office in March 2021:

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·        

 We have become a community partner with the Department of

Children Family Services (DCFS) to help assist our clients with

SNAP/DSNAP to get food, Medicaid for medical needs, and CCAP

for daycare assistance. Doing this allows our clients to focus on

rebuilding their lives. 

·        We purchased a Case Management program to keep track of

our services and keep our clients on a road to success through

guidance. We created a Case Management system called “Bridging the Gap Case Management Services.”

·        We partnered with the Lifeline Program so that we can now

provide free government cell phones/tablets to qualifying

participants.

·        We purchased toiletry bags (each bag has 2 bars of soap,

shampoo & conditioner, comb/brush set, toothbrush & toothpaste,

deodorant, hand sanitizer, face masks, lotion, Q-tips, cotton balls, &

feminine products). We give these to our vulnerable clients in need

at their initial intake appointments. 

·        We provide bus passes/tokens with Jefferson transit and RTA to help them get to job interviews, check in with probation/parole, get to work, or to get to our appointments. 

·        We have partnered with Project ID so we are now able to pay

for our clients Driver’s License/ID cards along with their Birth Certificates. 

·        We have partnered with 9 felon friendly employers that are willing to employ some of our qualifying clients with justice involved backgrounds. 

·        We partnered with Full Circle which is a For-Profit agency

·        willing to provide entrepreneur training at a discounted rate (they

·        also help get them started with getting an EIM, LLC, DUNS

·        number, & provide their first set of business cards, etc.)

·        We work with Operation Restoration (another non-profit who

·        helps the same population for women) to get training for GED/HI Set, Lab tech, and Phlebotomy training. 

·        We have done several hurricane readiness drives to prepare for recovery from hurricane season. We have done several food drives for women who are here due to being sex trafficked and victims of domestic violence in hiding.

·        We work with the Family Justice Center and Southeastern Legal

·        Services for our Domestic Violence clients to get restraining orders and shelter for hiding. We also work closely with a non-profit called Arin’s Nesting Place which provides skills and support for domestic violence and recovery. 

·        We work with Unity of Greater New Orleans and several of our

local homeless shelters to advocate for clients to reconnect with their case workers or so that our clients may be placed at a shelter so that they may have somewhere to stay until they qualify for temporary/permanent supportive housing.

·        Due to us seeing a lot of justice involved clients with different

types of violent crimes in their backgrounds, we also formed a

partnership with the City of New Orleans Gun Violence Prevention

Office. On June 4th 2021 they sponsored our first event with the

the Violence team. We had about 80 people in attendance

and 8 guest speakers. For legal services, addiction services,

domestic abuse, a mental health specialist, entrepreneur training

organizations, housing organizations, and with Keedy Black as a

spiritual/motivational speaker. We had several of our returning

clients in attendance that referred new clients to our organization.

·        We did a Back-to-School drive in St. Gabriel in August to help

women provide school supplies for their children returning back to school.

·        In September 2021 we partnered with 2nd Chance PMI to be able to provide classes on workforce training, credit repair, budgeting etc. We are going to be able to provide free laptops and internet access for our clients in attendance for this training. 

·        We have partnered with Old Algiers Main Street in order to offer free tuition for CNA training. Our clients will also get a stipend while in school. They will help with state certification preparations and/or help with job placement.

·    As Louisiana was hit hard by hurricane (Ida) on August 31, 2021, Mission Rebirth has helped by being in the field helping with DSNAP (disaster food stamps), helping clients with FEMA applications, and helping our displaced clients find shelter.

·        In October 2021 we opened a computer lab for basic computer

skills training. It has 4 brand new desktop computers with zoom

capabilities, 2 printers, and 2 phone line systems. They also

use this room for our workforce development program where

we teach interviewing skills, help with resumes, job search, and

other technical training such as typing.

·        In December 2021 we partnered with CADA to provide drug,

alcohol, and other therapy services.

·        In January 2022 we partnered with CEO Works and have since

referred 53 people to start working.

·        From October 2021- February 2022 we were able to work along

·        side an agency that temporarily held over 260 homeless individuals as they waited for housing. We were able to help provide all of our wrap around services and case management as they waited for housing and continued our services once they were placed.

·        November 2021, we opened and managed a gently used clothing closet at the homeless shelter so that our homeless clients could get clothing and other toiletry items.

·        In January 2022 we did a winter coat drive, a health/wellness

check and COVID shot initiative with Priority Health Care, and

other resource friendly events. They did STD and HIV testing on site at the location for our clients.

·        In February 2022 we opened our own clothing closet which included interview attire.

·        In April of 2022 We became an SNAP Employment and Training provider. We started providing workforce development training in sessions, teaching basic computer skills, keyboarding training, interview/job search workshops, and helping with providing job retention services for up to 90 days.

·        From February 2022- August 2022 We were a Louisiana Public Health Institute grant recipient and provided Overdose spike response efforts as indicated by ODMAP.

·        In June of 2022 we partnered with GNO Health and Wellness along with Rebylt to provide Primary Health and Mental Health appointments within 72hrs if not the same day. We also put in place Medical Monday’s for walk-in appointments.

·        In August of 2022, as we expanded, we put all of our services in the same suite instead of multiple office spaces.

 

We are now at 3308 Tulane Ave. Suite 405 New Orleans, LA. 70119. 

 

As of today, Mission Rebirth now has 738 clients since March of 2021 just by word of mouth and our impact in the Greater New Orleans communities.