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Reentry Success Stories: Three Projects and Practical Questions

Explore sourced accounts of Susan Burton, Teresa Hodge and Coss Marte, then choose one practical question for your own next step.

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Susan Burton, Teresa Hodge and Coss Marte describe different projects that grew from experience of incarceration: a home for women returning to the community, a collaboration addressing barriers after release, and a fitness business. Each profile below links to its sources.

Read for the specific action and support involved. Your next step can be much smaller than founding an organization. The questions alongside these accounts are prompts for your own plan; a story cannot determine what services, permissions or resources are available to you.

Susan Burton

Building a place for women coming home

Susan Burton founded A New Way of Life in 1998 after her own experience of incarceration. In an interview published by the Ford Foundation, she described meeting women arriving at a bus station after release and offering them a place in her home. That grew into a community of women supporting one another. The organization’s history describes its beginnings as a single reentry home in South Los Angeles and its subsequent development of housing, legal, workforce, education and advocacy teams. The concrete thread in this account is a place to stay connected with ongoing support.

A question for your own plan: Which part of a housing arrangement is still unconfirmed: a place, transport, intake or the contact after arrival? Write down that question and who can answer it. If you approach an organization, confirm its current process and availability.

Teresa Hodge

Working with her daughter on barriers after release

Mission: Launch identifies Teresa Hodge and Laurin Leonard as its founders and dates its start to 2012. Echoing Green’s profile of Hodge, a 2018 fellow, describes her co-founding the organization with her daughter after completing a federal prison sentence. Mission: Launch’s history describes using civic technology and community hackathons to address barriers including workforce discrimination and digital exclusion. This is an account of a mother-daughter collaboration built around problems encountered after incarceration; it does not establish that a particular technology will secure a job or change a screening decision.

A question for your own plan: Name one obstacle in a current application, such as an unclear document request or difficulty using an online form. Record the exact question and look for a contact who can help with that step. You do not need to start a company to work on it.

Coss Marte

Turning a bodyweight training method into CONBODY

CONBODY’s own account describes Coss Marte developing a bodyweight exercise method while incarcerated and bringing it to New York City’s Lower East Side after returning home. The company identifies him as its founder and describes formerly incarcerated people working as instructors. This is a specific example of a skill becoming the basis for a business and paid work for others. We do not treat the company’s promotional health or recidivism figures as established outcomes, or its hiring description as a current job offer.

A question for your own plan: What skill could you demonstrate with a work sample, reference or training record? Choose one role and find out what proof or qualification it actually requires before paying for training or planning a business.

Read a story with its context

These short profiles cover particular projects and milestones. They are not complete biographies, a representative sample of people leaving prison or proof of a method that works for everyone. The linked accounts come from the people, organizations or fellowship hosts involved; that context matters when interpreting promotional claims.

The questions beneath each profile are written by SecondChanceInfo. They are not quotations, endorsements or advice attributed to the people featured. No one featured was interviewed by this website for these summaries.

When you read another story, keep a four-part note: what happened and when; what support or resources were involved; what the account leaves unanswered; and one question relevant to your own circumstances. Do not turn an individual result into a promise about your eligibility, health, finances or timeline.

Choose a next step that fits your situation

You do not need a public achievement or a business to justify progress. Your next task might be clarifying an appointment, arranging a way to receive calls, requesting a document or asking about care. Choose something that matters to you and fits the instructions and needs you actually have.

Use this small-step note: “I need to clarify ___. I will contact ___ by ___. I will record the answer and follow up on ___.” If an office has not responded, distinguish the action you completed from the outcome you are still waiting for.

For example, asking a housing program about its intake process is a completed enquiry; it is not a confirmed room. Recording the answer, remaining questions and next contact is useful even when a placement is still unresolved. The deadline in your note does not replace a deadline in an actual order or notice.

Hear more of the story in the original accounts

The Ford Foundation’s Susan Burton interview includes her own account of how the housing project began. Read the surrounding questions as well as the short profile above; her experience is an individual account, and historical figures in an interview should not be treated as current national facts.

Ear Hustle describes its work as stories of daily life inside prison and after incarceration. Its official overview explains the show’s origins at San Quentin and links to its episodes. It is an option for listening to people describe their experiences, rather than a source for your own legal or treatment instructions.

If you are having a difficult time now

You can ask for help with the specific problem in front of you without comparing your life to a founder’s profile. If you have a caseworker, clinician, trusted person or program contact, explain what is happening and what you need help arranging.

For a medical emergency or suspected overdose, call 911. Call or text 988 for suicide or mental-health crisis support. 211 provides local resource referrals; it does not reserve a room or guarantee a service. SAMHSA’s National Helpline at 1-800-662-4357 provides treatment information and referrals for mental-health and substance-use concerns; it is not counseling.

If you are looking for a mentor, use the linked mentorship guide to check the program’s scope, contact process, costs and privacy. A pending mentoring enquiry does not replace urgent care or another appointment.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are these real people and real projects?
Yes. Each profile links to the specific organization, first-person interview or fellowship biography used for the stated facts. These are selected milestones, not complete biographies. SecondChanceInfo did not interview the featured people, and the practical questions are our own.
Do these stories prove that anyone can follow the same path?
No. Individual accounts do not establish a success rate or a universal formula. Access to housing, care, money, documents, time and other support differs. Use a story to identify a useful question rather than judge your progress against someone else’s outcome.
How long should rebuilding after release take?
This page does not establish a normal timeline. Work from your actual needs, appointments, orders and available support. A pending application or delayed response is different from a task you have not started; keep track of both without inventing a deadline for your whole life.
Do I need to start a business to be successful?
No. The profiles describe particular projects, not a requirement to become an entrepreneur. If a business interests you, check the actual activity’s licensing, supervision, financing and other requirements before spending money. Another person’s business does not establish your permission or funding.
Does a featured organization have a job or a place for me?
The profile does not establish current openings, eligibility or acceptance. Contact the relevant program or employer about its actual process. A statement that an organization has hired or housed people with records is not a guarantee for every applicant.
How can I turn a story into something useful today?
Pick one concrete question about your own situation, identify a person or office that can answer it, and record the next action. Keep confirmed information separate from assumptions. The examples beneath the profiles can help you choose that question.
Should I share my own story publicly?
That is your choice, and public disclosure is not required to ask for support. Before submitting a story, ask where it will appear, whether your name or image will be used, what editing or withdrawal options exist and whether others mentioned have agreed. Consider what you want to keep private; this page does not collect story submissions.
Where can I find a mentor or someone to talk to?
For mentoring, confirm the actual program’s age range, area, intake, costs, confidentiality and current availability. Our mentorship guide provides questions for that enquiry. For suicide or mental-health crisis support, call or text 988; for an emergency or suspected overdose, call 911. A mentor search should not delay urgent help.

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Disclaimer: The stories on this page are based on publicly available information about real individuals. SecondChanceInfo is not affiliated with any of the individuals featured. This is informational content, not legal or professional advice. Call 911 for an emergency; call or text 988 for crisis support. 211 offers local resource referrals; SAMHSA’s National Helpline offers treatment information and referrals.

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