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Executive Summary
Second Start Reentry Network is a nonprofit that helps people returning home from jail or prison in the east side of our city and the nearby county get back on their feet. We provide help getting IDs and documents, job readiness and job placement, and connections to housing and treatment, with one-on-one support from a case manager and a peer mentor who has walked this road before.
The first weeks after release decide a lot. People often come home with no ID, no work, no stable place to stay, and no one who knows how to help them sort it out. Without those basics, it is very hard to stay out of trouble and take care of family. Our program focuses on those first months: getting documents, finding work, finding housing leads, and having a steady person to call.
In Year 1 we plan to serve about 60 people over the year, with about 30 getting active help at any one time. Our Year 1 budget is about $137,000, growing to about $301,000 by Year 5 as we grow from one case manager to five. Each year's budget is planned to balance, with a small amount set aside in savings.
We are asking the Hartwell Foundation for $50,000, as part of the $122,000 in grants and contracts we need for Year 1. The other $15,000 in Year 1 comes from donations, which we plan to grow to about $48,000 a year by Year 5. Grant money pays for case manager and peer mentor time, the small practical costs that remove barriers (ID fees, work boots, bus passes), and the office work needed to report results honestly.
We will measure how many people we serve, how many get a state ID and other key documents, how many get a job, and how many are still working 90 and 180 days later. We will report results to our funders every six months.
Company Description
Second Start Reentry Network is a nonprofit organization in Iowa. A 501(c)(3) public charity
Our mission. To help people returning home from incarceration get the documents, work and support they need to rebuild their lives and stay with their families.
How we started and what we have done. We began in 2024 when three church members started meeting people at the bus stop the day they were released. Since then we have helped about 50 people get IDs and about 20 find work, with 12 volunteers helping each month.
What we do:
- Meet with people before release when the facility allows it, and during the first 90 days after release when the need is greatest.
- Help people get a state ID, birth certificate, Social Security card and other documents they need to work and rent.
- Help people prepare for work, apply for jobs and keep them, with employers who are willing to hire people with records.
- Help people find housing leads and apply, and connect them to health care, treatment, legal help and benefits through partner agencies.
- Pair every client with a peer mentor, a person with lived experience of incarceration who is doing well and can say "I have been where you are."
Where we work. A donated office at a community center, Monday to Thursday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., plus meetings at coffee shops and libraries when that is easier for the client.
Our partners. A county probation office that refers people, a legal aid clinic that handles record questions, a landscaping company and a warehouse that interview our clients, and a local church that donates our office space.
How we are run. A volunteer Board of Directors (a small group of community members who oversee the organization) meets regularly, approves the budget, reviews the finances and oversees the Executive Director.
Problem & Opportunity
Why this program is needed.
People coming home from incarceration in the east side of our city and the nearby county face a long list of barriers at once. Many leave with little money, no valid ID, no job lined up and nowhere certain to sleep. A record makes it harder to get hired and harder to rent. Each unmet need makes the next one harder, and people who cannot meet basic needs are more likely to end up back in custody, which costs families and the community far more than helping them early.
Facts about our community. According to our state department of corrections, thousands of people were released to our county last year.
Gaps in the help that exists now:
1. Documents. You usually need an ID to get a job or an apartment, and you need other papers to get an ID. Many people get stuck in that loop.
2. Work. Many employers will not look at an applicant with a record, and many job seekers do not know how to talk about their record honestly in an interview.
3. Housing. Landlords often screen out people with records, and family homes may not have room or may not be allowed under housing rules.
4. Follow-through. A one-time referral is not enough. People need someone who checks in during the hard first months.
5. Trust. People who have been through the system often do not trust programs that feel like another office with another form.
What we have seen ourselves. Last year, nearly every person we met in their first week home had no valid ID. Several lost job offers because they could not show one in time.
Who we serve first. People who are returning to people returning to the east side and the two nearby small towns, especially those with children at home, with priority for people in their first year home, people with children, and people with no other support.
Products & Services
How the program works.
1. A case manager and a peer mentor for every client. Within the first week, the case manager and client make a simple written plan: documents, work, housing, health and family. The peer mentor checks in often, especially in the first 90 days, and helps with the things a form cannot, like staying motivated when a job application is turned down.
2. Documents first. We help clients collect what they need for a state ID and other key papers, and we pay the fees directly to the agency that charges them.
3. Work that fits. We help with résumés, practice interviews, and how to talk about a record honestly. We work with employers who have agreed to interview or hire our clients, and we explain to each employer the tools that may lower their risk, like free bonding and possible tax credits.
4. Housing and other needs. We help clients look for housing and apply, and connect them to treatment, health care, legal help and benefits through partner agencies. We do not run a housing program ourselves in Year 1.
5. Small practical help. About $25,000 in Year 1 pays for things like ID and document fees, work boots or uniforms, tools, bus passes and application fees. We pay the business directly instead of handing out cash, and we keep a record of every payment.
6. Support that tapers, not stops. Intensive help for the first 90 days, then regular check-ins through at least the first year.
How we will measure results. For every client we record when they started, which documents they received, whether they got a job, whether they are still working at 90 and 180 days, and whether they have a stable place to live. We ask clients twice a year what is working and what is not. Our goals for Year 1: help 45 people get a state ID; help 30 find a job; have at least 20 still working after 90 days and 15 after 180 days; and have 80% of clients say they have someone they can call when something goes wrong.
Market Analysis
Where we work and who we serve.
We serve people returning from jail or prison to the east side of our city and the nearby county, especially people returning to the east side and the two nearby small towns, especially those with children at home.
How we know people need this. We helped 52 people last year with no budget at all, and probation officers and two churches now send us people every month. We also keep a waiting list.
How many we will reach. In Year 1, about 60 people over the year, with about 30 getting active help at any one time. One case manager can usually work well with a limited number of people at a time, so we plan growth carefully: as we grow from one case manager to five over five years, we expect to serve more people each year without letting the quality of support slip.
Who refers people to us. The county jail's discharge staff, two probation offices, the public defender's office, three shelters and four churches.
Competitive Landscape
Other help, and how we work with it.
- Government workforce centers (often called American Job Centers) offer job search help and training. They are very useful and free. We help our clients use them and add the personal, one-on-one support many people need to walk through the door.
- Probation and parole offices supervise people and sometimes provide referrals. We are not part of supervision. We are a separate support that clients choose to work with. We have a referral agreement with the county probation office and we are in talks with the jail about pre-release visits.
- Other reentry programs, churches and housing groups each cover part of the need. We share referrals and avoid duplicating each other, so a person can find help on more than one front.
- Legal aid and record-clearing clinics help with expungement and legal problems. We refer clients to them and do not give legal advice ourselves.
What makes us different: every client has a peer mentor with lived experience, we pay costs directly so people can start work right away, and we stay with people for a full year
Marketing & Sales Strategy
How we reach people and build support.
Reaching people:
- Referrals from the corrections department, probation and parole offices, courts, public defenders, shelters, legal aid, health clinics and churches.
- Meeting people before release when the facility allows visits or video calls.
- Word of mouth. Our peer mentors and past clients are the most trusted voice we have.
- Clear information (what we do, who to call, what it costs, which is nothing) at libraries, community centers, and the places people go in their first week home.
Employers. We build a short list of employers who will interview and hire our clients. We keep it honest with them: we tell them what we know about each candidate and what support we provide after the hire. We also explain tools that may help them, such as the Federal Bonding Program (free bonding for the first months of a job) and possible tax credits for hiring certain job seekers. Rules change, so we check current details before we tell an employer anything.
Volunteers and mentors. Local churches, graduates of our program who have been doing well for at least two years, and nearby employers.
Raising money beyond grants. Donations are planned at about $15,000 in Year 1, growing to about $48,000 by Year 5, through a yearly giving campaign, employer partners, a community event and online giving. Raising more of our own money means we depend less on any one grant or contract.
Operations Plan
How the program runs.
A client's first week. A person is referred from the jail. We meet within two days, make a written plan, start the paperwork for a state ID, and give a bus pass. By day five they have a first meeting with the peer mentor and a first job-readiness session.
How a client moves through the program:
1. Referral or self-referral, then a first meeting to explain what we do and what we ask of the client.
2. A written plan with the client's own goals, plus signed permission forms for any information we need to share.
3. Documents, then job readiness, then job search and placement, with housing and other needs worked on at the same time.
4. Check-ins every week for the first 90 days, then at least monthly through the first year.
5. Closing out: the client reaches their goals, chooses to stop, or we help them move to another program.
Privacy. Clients decide what to tell us. Client information is kept private and locked. We share information with probation, parole or anyone else only when the client signs a release or when the law requires it. Funders get totals, never names.
Safety. Staff and mentors follow written safety rules for meetings and home or community visits, and no one works alone in an unsafe situation.
Payments. Practical help is paid directly to the agency or business, with a receipt and a note in the client file.
Equipment. In Year 1 we buy about $4,000 in equipment (laptops, phones, a printer and basic office furniture), then about $1,500 to $2,000 a year to replace worn items.
Staff. One case manager in Year 1, growing to two in Year 2, three in Year 3, four in Year 4 and five in Year 5. Case managers work alongside peer mentors, who may be staff or trained volunteers.
Office work. Bookkeeping, insurance and reporting cost about $13,000 in Year 1.
Management & Organization
Who leads the organization.
Jessica Mitchell, Executive Director.
The Executive Director leads the organization, raises money and manages grants and contracts, builds partnerships, oversees the finances and reports to the Board. Planned salary: $58,000 a year.
Case managers and peer mentors. Meet with clients, build their plans, help with documents, work and housing, and check in regularly. One position in Year 1, growing to five by Year 5, at a planned salary of $38,000 each. Qualifications we look for: experience in case management or social services, a calm and respectful way with people, and for our peer mentors, at least two years of steady work or school since release.
Volunteers. Mentors, interview coaches and drivers who are trained and screened before they work with clients.
Board of Directors. A five-member board including Thomas Flores, who brings nonprofit finance experience.
Money management. Grant and contract money is tracked separately so we can show each funder exactly how their money was spent. An outside accountant reviews our books every year.
Milestones Narrative
Our goals and how we will measure them.
Year 1:
- Sign agreements with our main referral partners and a starting group of employers.
- Hire and train our first case manager and recruit peer mentors.
- Serve about 60 people over the year, with about 30 getting active help at any one time.
- Reach our Year 1 goals for documents, jobs and job retention.
- Stay within a balanced budget of about $137,000.
Year 2: add a second case manager; budget of about $178,000; add more employer partners.
Years 3 to 5: grow to five case managers and a budget of about $301,000 by Year 5. Grow donations to about $48,000 a year. Add a housing partner and strengthen our follow-up with clients through their first full year.
How we will check our results. We record, for each client: documents received, job placement, still working at 90 days and at 180 days, and whether housing is stable. Twice a year a short survey asks clients what is helping and what is not. Staff and the Board review results and share them with our funders. We will also look at how many of our clients return to custody, but only once we have a written data agreement with the corrections department. Until then we will not claim results we cannot prove.
Funding Request
What we are asking for, and how the money will be used. Our request: $50,000 from the Hartwell Foundation for our first case manager's salary, direct help for clients, and the costs of reporting results, for January through December 2027. Year 1 budget: about $137,000, planned to balance. Year 1 money coming in: - Grants and government contracts: $122,000 (this request plus other grants we are applying for). - Donations: $15,000. Year 1 costs: - Executive Director: $58,000. - Case manager and peer mentor staffing: $38,000. - Direct help for clients (documents, work gear, transportation): $25,000. - Office costs (bookkeeping, insurance, reporting): about $13,000. - That is about $134,000 in costs. The remaining $3,000 or so goes into savings. Equipment we buy once at the start (about $4,000) is paid from startup money, not from the yearly budget. The next five years. Our budget grows from about $137,000 in Year 1 to about $301,000 in Year 5 as we grow to five case managers. Grants and contracts are planned at $122,000 in Year 1, $156,000 in Year 2, $189,000 in Year 3, $221,000 in Year 4 and $253,000 in Year 5. Donations grow from $15,000 to $48,000, so grants become a smaller part of our budget over time. Savings. We start with about $16,000 of our own plus $55,000 in startup support, and we add to savings each year. Important for government contracts. Many government contracts pay you back after you have spent the money, sometimes weeks later. We plan to keep enough cash on hand to cover that gap, and we keep careful records of every expense so we can pass an audit. Help we receive that is not cash. Donated space, volunteer and mentor hours, and partner services are a real part of what we do and are not counted in the budget above. Free use of a community center office (about $7,200 a year in rent value), about 1,500 volunteer and mentor hours a year, and free legal clinics for our clients If we are just starting. A new organization can begin before it has its own 501(c)(3) status. One way is a fiscal sponsor: an established nonprofit that agrees to receive grants for you and pass them to your program, usually for a fee (commonly around 5% to 10% of the grant, sometimes more; ask before you agree). Many funders accept this. Another way is to start smaller: partner with a church or community center, work with a small number of clients, build a short list of employers, and track results carefully. Strong results from a small start make larger grants and contracts easier to win.
Appendix Notes
Documents to attach with this proposal:
- Your IRS 501(c)(3) letter, or your fiscal sponsor agreement.
- Your most recent financial statements and your current budget.
- A list of your Board members and what they do.
- Letters of support or partnership letters from referral partners, employers and agencies.
- Your privacy and release-of-information forms, and your safety rules.
- Your program numbers from the past year, if you have them (people served, documents, jobs).
- Resumes for your Executive Director and key staff.
- An organization chart, if you have one. If you don't have any of this yet, no worries - let's continue.
The assumptions behind our numbers (change them in the Financials section to match your own):
- Staff pay: Executive Director $58,000; each case manager $38,000, growing from one to five.
- Direct client help about $25,000 in Year 1, rising about 6% a year; office costs about $13,000, rising about 4% a year.
- Grants and contracts set so each year's budget balances with a small amount saved.
- Every dollar amount is an estimate. Replace them with your organization's real budget.