Coming home from jail or prison in AtlantaA short guide: who to call first and what to expect.
Start with your ID, because almost everything else asks for it. Get your birth certificate first, then a Georgia ID and a Social Security card. The Social Security card is free. Crossroads Community Ministries and Emmaus House help people get these papers.
For a place to live, ask your parole or probation officer about reentry housing before you take the first room you find. Houses differ a lot in price and rules. Ask what it costs each week, what the rules are, and whether they take people with your charge. IMAN Atlanta and other groups listed here run reentry housing with job training.
For work, some employers hire people with records on purpose. The Center for Employment Opportunities gives paid work right away to people who are just out. First Step Staffing places people fast, often in warehouse jobs. Georgia Works is a live-in work program for men who have been homeless.
To clear your record, call the Georgia Justice Project at 404-827-0027. Georgia lets you seal many old arrests and some convictions, including many misdemeanors after four years with no new conviction. A sealed record stops showing up on most job and apartment checks. Their help is free.
For food, a drug conviction does not block you from SNAP (food stamps) in Georgia. Apply at gateway.ga.gov.
To vote, you can register again once you finish your whole sentence, including probation and parole. A misdemeanor never takes away your right to vote.
When you call a program, they ask about your release date, your supervision and your record. Answer plainly. It helps them place you.
Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO) Atlanta helps people with criminal records prepare for work and find steady jobs. It offers paid temporary work, job training, coaching, and support after hiring. Its current office is at 261 Joseph E. Lowery Boulevard; older directories list 938 Peachtree Street.
Georgia DCS helps people leaving prison or living under community supervision connect with housing, work, treatment, and mentoring. Its reentry services are now listed under Operations Support, with housing assistance through approved providers and support through local offices. The Atlanta field office serves Fulton County.
Essence of Hope is an Atlanta nonprofit that has given housing and support to people since 2007. It runs shared sober housing for people who are homeless, veterans, people coming home from jail or prison, and people in court programs. It also helps with case management, job readiness, life skills, and signing up for benefits. You must be referred by a partner agency to get in.
LifeChangers, Inc. is an Atlanta-area nonprofit that helps people with criminal records and people returning home from jail or prison. It offers free job-readiness workshops, phone mentoring, and links to community resources. It also offers online assignments for court-ordered community service.
Georgia Justice Project is a nonprofit that gives free legal help to people in Georgia who have been touched by the criminal legal system. It defends some people charged in Fulton and DeKalb counties and helps people clean up old records so it is easier to get a job or a home. It also helps with ending felony probation early, job license problems, and questions about voting.
The Fulton County District Attorney's Office is the county government office that prosecutes felony crimes in Fulton County. It also runs services for the public, including a free Victim-Witness Assistance Program for people harmed by crime, record restriction for eligible past arrests and convictions, diversion programs, and youth programs. This office is not a place to get legal advice for your own case.
The Investors Academy helps families and at-risk youth get back on their feet. It offers a food pantry, transitional housing for veterans, job help for people leaving jail or prison, and job and life-skills training for youth, including hands-on construction training.
Project Restart is an Atlanta nonprofit that helps people with criminal records rebuild their lives. It offers reentry support, training, mentoring, and connections to education, jobs, and help starting a business.
Rainey Day Fund is a charity in Atlanta that helps people and families who are in crisis. It connects them to resources for school, money, and a fresh start. It helps people coming home from incarceration, and it also offers referrals, family and children's resources, and community support across Metro Atlanta.
The Salvation Army Metro Atlanta Center of Hope is at 469 Marietta Street. It offers emergency and longer-term places to stay for men, women, and families with children who have no home. It also has a drug treatment program, help finding permanent housing, and housing for veterans and people leaving prison.
Red Shield Services is the Salvation Army's downtown Atlanta shelter, now called the Center of Hope. It gives emergency and longer-term housing to men, women, and families with children who are homeless, plus a 90-day drug treatment program, help for veterans, and job training. A recent expansion added 116 beds, for a total capacity of 437 people.
Connecting Communities and Families is an Atlanta nonprofit near the Ashby MARTA station. It helps young adults leaving foster care, people coming home from prison or jail, and low to moderate income families get ready for work. Services include job readiness coaching, computer skills classes, job placement help, referrals to trade training, and support like transportation help and case management.
City of Refuge is a faith-based campus on Atlanta's Westside that helps people and families move out of crisis. It offers housing for women, children, and men, free job training, youth programs, a school, a campus kitchen, and an on-site health clinic. For housing, call and leave a message, because walk-ins are not taken.
The Furniture Bank of Metro Atlanta gives furniture to people who are starting over after hardship, like homelessness or domestic violence. People get help through a referral from a partner agency, and the furniture is delivered. It also runs a job program for people who were in prison and takes donated furniture and volunteers.
Safe Care Homes Group is a housing organization in Atlanta that offers safe, affordable homes for people who need extra support. This includes transitional housing, sober living, and homes for seniors, veterans, people with disabilities, and people coming home from incarceration. It also offers money management help called Representative Payee Services.
PAD is an Atlanta nonprofit that helps people facing extreme poverty, mental health concerns, or substance use problems. Its teams respond to non-emergency calls through 311 with food, supplies, transportation, and connections to care. PAD also helps eligible people avoid jail and get ongoing support with housing and other needs.
STRIVE Atlanta is the Atlanta site of a national job training nonprofit. It offers free job training, one-on-one career coaching, job placement and support that lasts after you get a job. People with past justice system involvement are welcome.
Metro Transitional Center is a Georgia state correctional residence for adult women preparing to leave prison. Residents receive housing, work-release opportunities, education, and counseling. Placement requires a prison or parole-board referral; it is not a walk-in shelter.
Ezekiel's Valley is a faith-based recovery ministry in Atlanta that offers transitional housing for men recovering from drug or alcohol dependency. Residents get 12-step guidance, life skills, drug screening and education, and help finding work. Men 18 and older who are stable and committed to long-term recovery can apply.
The Mayor’s Office of Violence Reduction is an Atlanta city office that works with community groups to prevent gun violence and make neighborhoods safer. It coordinates youth violence prevention, support for people returning from incarceration, domestic violence awareness, and human trafficking prevention.
