Curated by Erik Wilder · updated July 4, 2026
Coming home is its own full-time job. These places help with the big four — a record that doesn't follow you everywhere, a paycheck, a place to sleep, and people who get it.
Georgia Justice Project helps Georgians who are affected by the criminal legal system. They provide free legal help, social service support, criminal record clearing help, voting rights information, and policy advocacy to reduce barriers to jobs, housing, and reentry.
Curator’s note: Free legal help to restrict and seal old records — the single biggest door-opener for jobs and housing. Start here.
First Step Staffing is a nonprofit staffing agency that helps people who face barriers to work get jobs and stay employed. They offer job placement, orientation, coaching, transportation help, and disability benefits support.
Curator’s note: A nonprofit staffing agency built to hire people with records — real paying work, often within days, with transportation help to get there.
Georgia Works is a nonprofit that helps chronically homeless men become independent through a 6-to-12-month live-in program. While in the program, men get housing, paid transitional work, case management, and life-skills classes, plus help getting a GED, a driver's license, and a bank account. Men must stay drug- and alcohol-free, work 30+ hours a week, and save part of their pay.
Curator’s note: A live-in work program for men at the Gateway Center: a bed, a paycheck, and a plan, usually over 6 to 12 months.
City of Refuge is a faith-based nonprofit on Atlanta's Westside that helps people and families move out of crisis. It offers housing, meals, health services through partners, job training, youth programs, and support for people returning from incarceration.
Curator’s note: A Westside campus with housing, workforce training, and health care in one place — good when you're rebuilding everything at once.
Integrity Transformations CDC is a nonprofit on Atlanta's Westside that helps people get jobs and rebuild their lives, with special focus on people coming home from prison or jail. They offer free job-readiness classes, resume and interview help, computer skills, case management, and connections to free vocational training and full-time work. They also work on affordable housing and financial literacy in the community.
Curator’s note: Home of Westside Works — free job training with employers waiting on the other end, rooted in Atlanta's Westside neighborhoods.
Goodwill of North Georgia runs thrift stores, donation centers, and career centers in North Georgia. Money from donated goods helps pay for free job search help, career coaching, job training, and placement support.
Curator’s note: Free career centers across the metro — resume help, job leads, and training programs that welcome people with a record.
The Urban League of Greater Atlanta is a civil rights and economic opportunity nonprofit. It helps people with jobs, training, housing counseling, homeownership, financial coaching, youth programs, reentry support, small business help, and civic engagement.
Curator’s note: Jobs, training, and housing counseling from a civil-rights institution that has been doing this work in Atlanta for decades.
Motherhood Beyond Bars is an Atlanta-based nonprofit that supports babies born to incarcerated women in Georgia, their mothers, and the family or friends caring for the babies. They help with infant supplies, diapers, caregiver support, communication with mothers in prison, reentry planning, and family reunification.
Curator’s note: For mothers: supports women who are pregnant or postpartum while incarcerated in Georgia, and the caregivers raising their babies.
