Evan graduated from RISE's In-Prison Program in June and has spent the last several months working with his RISE Community Navigator, Cody, as he transitioned down to the community correctional center.

RISE is delighted to announce the generous gift of $10,000 from King of Kings Church in Omaha, Nebraska. The generosity of King of Kings will allow for RISE’s Community Navigation team to provide hygiene essential packs to RISE graduates returning home after incarceration.

RISE is pleased to announce the opening of a new Lincoln-based reentry office in the old Lincoln Literacy Building located at 745 S. 9th Street. RISE will host an open house event for the community on Friday, October 6th from 3:00 PM to 6:00 PM with a ribbon cutting at 3:15 PM and remarks from RISE Board Member and Lincoln resident, Ava Thomas at 3:30 PM.

At 18, Les was homeless, jobless, and had very few personal belongings - he came to our office wearing his county-issued shower shoes. Les was and is...alone. He's 18. A kid. Alone.

Les was paired up with Jon, a RISE Case Manager, who began working compassionately to determine his greatest needs.

Like so many others, "Ben" didn't win this particular battle of addiction when he came home the first time. He served 2 more years back in prison. But his army, RISE and this community of ours - YOU - didn't stop having his back.

These shared dinners would not be possible without the food! So a special thank you to all the vendors who make these dinners possible. The food helps create a welcoming and enticing offer for families and participants to come back every week.

Research has shown that staying connected with family while incarcerated is wildly beneficial. It improves health, behavior, and can reduce the likelihood individuals will return to prison after being released.

“The blessing of taking RISE has given me just the littlest hope that there is life outside of lockup.”

Reentry is crisis. It's not uncommon to have a roof over your head one day and the threat of it being gone the next. Access to housing can help improve public safety, as research has shown it is correlated with decreases in crime and recidivism.

Andy is currently taking the Business Essentials portion of RISE's In Prison Program while finishing his time at a community corrections center. He's dyslexic and has never received assistance or treatment for his learning challenges.

RISE founder and CEO, Jeremy Bouman, was invited to the unComfotable Conversations about Culture & Christianity podcast created by Christ Community Church.

RISE received iPads from the Bellevue Papillion Rotary Club in September as a means of case management support in the field. The flexible use and portability is essential to RISE Reentry Specialists as they work one-on-one with program participants navigating their reentry post-incarceration.

The community turned out for another successful RISE Family Wellness Collective showcase event located at the Hot Shops Art Studios, which highlighted storybooks written and illustrated by program participants during the Trauma, Grief, & Resiliency cohort and poems written during the Self-Actualization cohort.

Throughout the six- month long RISE class, both participants, facilitators, and RISE staff saw a visible change in Rosa's mindset.

Before her opportunity to graduate the RISE In-Prison Program, Jen was moved to a different facility, the Community Correctional Center in Lincoln (often called work release). That didn’t stop her.

At RISE, our mission is to end the generational cycles of incarceration. Our mission comes to fruition in a variety of ways.

Every decision we make at RISE, big and small, starts with this simple question. This is our North Star in everything we do.

“What do you need?”

RISE announced a donation of $20,000 from the Medica Foundation, a community-focused giving arm of Medica funding health initiatives across Nebraska. Medica’s funding of $20,000 goes directly to supporting RISE’s In-Prison Program and Youth & Family Program.

RISE graduates received free Tech Packs from Do Space as a means to support digital equity in Omaha. The Tech Pack program distributed laptops, Wi-Fi hotspots, free internet, computer training, and one-on-one technology tutoring - a substantial need for those coming out of incarceration.

Links to help!