Real Reentry: What it Means to Truly Come Home
By McKenzie Ring
RISE Director of Marketing and Communications
A Text That Didn’t Mean What We Expected
A few days ago, one of our team members, Brian Koch, received a text from a RISE graduate that read:
“Hey, I need to talk. Can we meet next week?”
Reentry is complex. It’s often unpredictable. And when someone reaches out like that, we pay attention. We show up ready to listen, to problem-solve, to walk through whatever might be coming next.
Brian made a plan to meet.
From Housing Instability to a Starting Point
For context, about a year ago, Brian was Ross's* Community Navigator. He walked alongside him during some of the hardest early days of reentry...financial strain, significant housing instability, finding a job with a livable wage. Today, Brian serves as our Employment Specialist, but like so many relationships built through this work, that connection didn’t just disappear.
So when Ross reached out, Brian showed up.
The morning of their meeting, Ross sent the location: a Family Dollar parking lot.
Like any of us would, Brian approached the meeting with care, ready for whatever Ross might need.
“I Just Wanted to Show You the Good News”
When he pulled up, something didn’t feel like a crisis at all. Ross was sitting in a vehicle…new to him. The first car he’s ever financed in his life. Clean. Reliable. His.
Brian walked over, a little confused, and asked what was going on.
Ross smiled.
“I just wanted to tell you the good news.”
Then he said, “Follow me.”
A few blocks and confused giggles later, they pulled up to a duplex.
Ross stepped out and said:
“This is mine.”
A Car, A Home, A New Chapter
Not long ago, Ross was staying in a hotel on the weekends, trying to piece life together. With Brian’s support, he found housing…a small, rough, studio apartment. It wasn’t perfect, but it was a start. A place that was his.
A place to begin coming home.
From there, Ross kept going.
Navigating utilities.
Doing the daily, often invisible work of rebuilding a life.
And now?
A two-bedroom duplex. A garage. A place to call home.
“The first house I’ve ever had in my entire life,” he told Brian.
And then came the part that stuck with me the most.
Ross said, “I just wanted to show you what you did for me.”
But here’s the truth we all know:
Ross did this.
He made the decisions. He put in the work. He kept moving forward.
We just had the privilege of walking alongside him as he found his way home.
More Than Breaking Cycles—A Full-Circle Moment
What I can’t stop thinking about, though, is this:
Brian isn’t even in that role anymore.
And still, Ross reached back out to him. He wanted Brian to see it. To witness it. To know that what started a year ago didn’t just matter in the moment…it mattered long after.
That kind of full-circle moment? We don’t always get to see it.
But when we do, it reminds us exactly why we show up every day.
Before Brian left, they took a photo, Ross standing in front of his car and his home. A moment that represents so much more than one person’s success.
I looked back at Ross's In-Prison Program reflection essay from 2020...
"Look at the bigger picture." He's living that bigger picture now...not just looking at it.
*Name has been changed for privacy.
RISE’s 4th Annual Giving Day Campaign Launches
April is Second Chance Month - a time to recognize that people deserve the opportunity to rebuild, to move forward, and to truly come home.
It also marks the launch of our 4th Annual RISE Giving Day campaign, leading up to our 24-hour rally on Thursday, April 23rd.
We’re coming together to ensure more people have the support they need to navigate the journey of coming home, just like Ross did.
If you believe in second chances, we invite you to be part of what’s possible.
